


One Month of Fatherhood

by 5BlackRoses



Series: Brief Respite [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Cuddling & Snuggling, Deaf Clint Barton, Fatherhood, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Kid Bucky Barnes, Kid Clint Barton, Kid Fic, Kid Natasha Romanov, Kid Sam Wilson, Kid Steve Rogers, Kid Wanda Maximoff, Magic, Nightmares, Parent!Tony, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, References to Illness, Team as Family, Thor Is a Good Bro, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark is Good With Kids, curse, for like a month anyway, sort of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-16
Updated: 2018-06-02
Packaged: 2018-08-09 02:56:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 26
Words: 54,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7784020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/5BlackRoses/pseuds/5BlackRoses
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After breaking up with Pepper and putting Rhodey in a wheelchair and fighting against the other Avengers, Tony thought he would be alone for ever. It would just be him, and his creations. He had accepted that fate.</p><p>And then someone decided to give him kids.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Tony had been monitoring the goings on in Wakanda since he left the hospital AMA after Siberia. Anyone who though he wouldn't, was either stupid or delusional. He'd even done all of the hacking personally, usually keeping a constantly shifting surveillance feed open while he worked in his lab. After the first day or so, Tony gave F.R.I.D.A.Y. the responsibility of monitoring the situation, though he checked in on it every so often. He had a new plethora of entries in his schedule, including Rhodey's surgeries and PT, and non-skipable commitments for SI.

When the AI gave him the first interesting update in the last month, Tony happened to be in Nairobi, Kenya. The particular project he was working on was not exactly a secret, but he was also the only person who knew about it and was involved.

To keep it quiet, Tony had hacked the project into the appropriate place on the SI servers, but marked it as complete so it wouldn't attract attention until profits reached a certain amount annually. Normally, the CEO would have to approve such an endeavor personally, due to the unconventional nature of it, but Pepper hadn't spoken to Tony much since they broke up, and he didn't want to get in her way.

The idea was to provide self-sustaining housing units on the city's outskirts to families from the slums. There was a screening process of sorts, but it mostly consisted of Tony talking to the adult members of the family. In part, the project was a bit of atonement for his many sins, direct help to people who needed it, and an experiment in environmentally friendly living. There was also a financial aspect, SI made charitable investments and donations, but it was a first and foremost tech company for profit.

By Tony's calculations, the excess solar power that could be generated by each unit and subsequently sold, would bring in substantial profit within three years. The building and maintenance gave jobs to the locals, and two of the people with whom he had already spoken had ideas that could be turned into successful SI tech with time.

One man, called Abasi, knew a fair amount about water purification, but had given it up because of difficulty finding work and the need to support his aging parents and 3 children. Kenura, a young woman supporting her 5 siblings, had ideas about solar power that Tony hadn't thought of yet. She had gone to a bit of University on scholarship, but returned when her parents died and the family fortune, what there was of it, had been stolen.

When his monitoring turned up something, Tony was in Nairobi for the third time, working to finalize the regular sale of excess energy from the housing units. His first visit to the country had been to introduce his idea and find interested families, and his second had been to help with and oversee construction. He was not one to shy away from getting down and dirty, so when he could, Tony moved materials, laid out planes, and put in screws alongside the local workers. He had always been a believer in doing things with his own hands. Rhodey suggested that he just didn't trust anyone else to do it right, and there was probably more truth in the theory than Tony would admit.

The third trip came to a close with a dinner cooked by both Kenura and Abasi's families after Tony set up internet for SI's newest employees and connected them with SI scientists overseas whom he trusted to work on the two projects.

The inventor was on his way back to his plane when Friday informed him of the strange turn of events in Wakanda. Calling T'challa was the first order of business, and to Tony's surprise, the King picked up the call personally. "I take it you have learned of the situation here," T'challa began, not doubting for a minute that the inventor had hacked his way in.

"I'd like to know how it happened," Tony replied.

"Would you be able to come here? I understand it's inconvenient-"

"Don't worry, I'll be there as soon as I can," the inventor interrupted, "I'm in Nairobi. I'll touch down in a few hours."

Not waiting for the King to reply, Tony ended the call, and began the pre-flight check. He had sent the pilot on a first class flight back to the States because he wanted to be alone. As it turned out, sending the man away was a great idea because Tony couldn't have anyone knowing that he was in Wakanda.

Sitting in the cockpit, the inventor took his father's old aviator sunglasses out of a hidden compartment. Howard Stark was a great man, but he wasn't the best parent. He wasn't abusive or neglectful in the legal sense, but he was always working, and never figured out how to connect with his son. The only thing the two had managed to bond over was aviation. Well, that and their love of the Jarvis family.

Howard was a skilled pilot, and he taught Tony every detail of caring for and flying planes. When his parents died, the 17 year old inventor had gone through the process, and got training he didn't need, receiving his pilot's license on his 18th birthday. Looking back, Tony had used the process to grieve for his father, because while he had been fairly close with Maria, he hadn't known Howard very well.

Tony's Aunt Peggy had been very proud of him, and she told him a story about Howard flying Steve into enemy airspace. Hearing about the Captain dampened Tony's mood a bit, but Peggy looked so nostalgic and happy that he didn't have the heart to say anything.

As he took off, the inventor shut off his memories and looked towards the country increasingly far below him. Tony hoped that he would get the chance to come back soon, but he doubted that it would happen; trouble was coming.

 

* * *

 

 

Touching down at the King's private airstrip in Wakanda was a lot easier than Tony had expected. Apparently, T'challa had informed the staff of the new arrival, but kept his identity a secret.

Parking the plane in the available hanger, the inventor grabbed his bags and went to meet the waiting representative of the King. It wasn't that he was planning to stay for any length of time, but his bags contained gifts from his friends in Kenya as well as important paperwork and electronics. It was for that reason that he also denied the offer of the representative to carry said bags.

Immediately, Tony was taken to a meeting with T'challa and some of his staff. They explained the situation and asked for his help, which he gave willingly. Once he agreed, they explained the details and Tony began to regret his decision. The King left to perform his kingly duties, and one of the advisors led the inventor to a closed off room. Inside, there were children and an single guard.

One of the room's occupants was standing in the corner with an expression of annoyance, three were crying for their parents, one was threatening another with a knife, and one was sitting on a couch looking incredibly bored.

Seeing what was going on, and that the available adult was not taking action, Tony took control. First, he confiscated the knife and sent both of the kids involved to a separate corners. Next, he picked up the youngest and let her cry on his shoulder, and he gave candy that he'd swiped from a desk somewhere to the other two criers.

"Your a natural!" the advisor exclaimed.

The inventor gave him a look that immediately shut the man up and made him want to question his life choices.

"I hate you," yelled the person on the couch.

"No you don't," the genius said with such finality that commentary ceased altogether.

That was how Tony Stark ended up being the caretaker for 6 children between the ages of 2 and 13.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taking care of one kid can be difficult. But 6, that's no problem. Right?

Once everyone had stopped crying, which took a solid half hour and a decent amount of lying, Tony sat down on the couch, still holding the youngest kid on his lap.The questions like "where's my Mom?" and "where are we?" were the hardest.

It nearly broke Tony's heart, but he managed to tell them that they had been transported to a foreign world, and everyone was working on getting them back home. Only two of the kids seemed particularly upset by that, which actually made Tony more concerned, but he set that aside. 

He got everyone sitting down, insisting that the two who had been playing with knives sat on opposite sides of the room, and asked for names and ages. "My name is Steven Grant Rogers and I'm 6 years old," was the first response, it was said slowly, through constant sniffling.

Tony smiled, he had predicted that Steve would be the first to speak. "James B. Barnes," said the kid sitting with Steve, "but everyone calls me Bucky."

"That's stupid," the kid who'd been threatened with the knife interrupted.

"No it's not," Tony glared at the child, who promptly shut his mouth and stared at the floor, "how old are you Bucky?"

"I'm 9," was the quiet response, "and I'm supposed to have two arms."

When all eyes turned to the aforementioned arm, Bucky looked like he was going to start crying as well, so Tony quickly moved on, "Who's next?" he asked.

"Natalia Alianovna Romanova," replied the girl who'd been threatening the other child with a knife, "Americans say Natasha."

"And how old are you?" Tony prompted.

"5 years and 4 months," she said.

It was interesting for Tony to hear the girl with such a thick accent, unlike her adult self, but rather than draw attention to it, he moved on. "I'm Tony Stark," he told them, "I'm going to be taking care of you guys for the foreseeable future."

When no one responded, he continued, "I think that this here is Wanda Maximoff," the girl in his lap looked up at him expectantly upon hearing her name, "and she is about 2.5 years old."

"Sam Wilson, 12," said the next kid, who had apparently decided that anger was no longer productive.

Finally, the kid who had been mean to Bucky spoke up, "I'm Clint Barton," he said slowly, "I'll be 8 in like 11 months."

"Well, that's all of us," Tony concluded, "I've agreed to take you home with me, but first we are going to have lunch and get you guys some clothes that fit."

That was enough of a prompt to get the kids standing and the guards rushing out to make it happen. Apparently they were all hungry enough to put their distrust of him aside. At least he thought so.

Lunch was difficult to say the least. Steve and Bucky, while they didn't recognize the food, were children of the Depression and were happy to eat everything they were given and a little more.

Natasha refused to eat anything; she didn't recognize it, so she assumed it was poisonous.

Clint was cautious about being allowed so much food, so he ate very sparingly and required constant reassurance and encouragement throughout the meal.

Sam got angry again when he didn't recognize the food, yelling at the adults that he wasn't going to fall for their tricks.

Wanda didn't like any of the foods, though she was quite good about trying different things.

Tony tried to skipp the meal in favor of talking to T'challa. He greeted the King appropriately, and exchanged warm hugs with others he recognized from his trips to Wakanda while working on the original Accords. "Where's Vision?" Tony asked the King, "Did he never get here?"

"He did arrive," T'challa replied, "and he too was hit with the witch's curse."

When Tony looked at the man expectantly, the King simply sighed, "we believe that the curse was intended to make the subject helpless by returning them to their weakest form. It seems your Vision was cursed out of existence."

"And you don't know if he will come back at the end of the curse," Tony finished, at which point a guard came to get him because Wakandan security were apparently prepared for everything but kids.

While the inventor would ideally have taken time to understand the situation and possibly grieve over his lost "son" of sorts, there were children that required his attention. Wanda was over tired and crying again, Natasha had found another knife and was throwing it repetitively at the wall while Clint was sitting the corner, scared of something that Tony guessed was probably Natasha.

Sam was still pissed, but he wasn't making a mess which was one relief. Bucky and Steve had both eaten too much, and had horrible stomach aches, they were now to tired to argue which was miracle given Tony's experience with adult Steve.

A guard provided Tony with one set of clothes for each child, and a bag of snacks and such for the trip back to the states. Clint and Sam changed willingly, and Wanda allowed the inventor to dress her before falling asleep on his shoulder. Natasha required a bit of convincing, but eventually she did change into the new clothes. Steve and Bucky refused, they felt to sick to do anything, so Tony let them stay in their older selves' shirts, insisting that they put on underwear and sandals.

Getting the kids onto the plane was another challenge. Steve and Bucky (and probably Wanda too but she was asleep) had never seen a plane up close, much less one that looked like Tony's. Clint and Sam, unsurprisingly, had never been on planes, and Natasha had only been in a helicopter, and only once. When everyone was done drooling and climbed inside, there was another round of amazement at the luxurious interior.

It was fairly easy to adjust the seating for Sam, Clint Bucky, and Natasha, but Tony had to be very careful not to wake Wanda when he was putting on the seatbelt.

Steve nearly refused to get in to a seat, he wanted to lie down to rest on the floor. Tony didn't really want to explain to the child why seat belts were so important, because he didn't think Steve had figured out that they were going to be very far above the ground.

Eventually all the kids were safely settled into their seats with snacks easily available, and Tony stowed his bags, making his way to the cockpit. Before he could close the door, Natasha slipped in beside him. She settled herself into the copilot's seat and put on headphones, looking back at the inventor with an expression that said, _what are you going to do about it?_ Tony figured that it would be useless to try and send her back, so he simply took his seat, turned off all copilot controls, and got ready for take off.

Once they were off the ground and safely on their way to the states, Tony had FRIDAY pull up footage of what was happening in the cabin. The video showed Clint with his face glued to the window, Wanda still sleeping, and Sam reading an avionics guide that Tony had left back there several flights earlier. The kid probably didn't know 3/4 of the words, but he wasn't causing problems, so the inventor was content to leave him as he was. Steve had managed to squirm out of his seat and was curled up in Bucky's lap. The older boy was also asleep, and finally, the inventor could relax a bit.

Of course, the calm lasted no more than a minute when Natasha interrupted, asking about flight controls. Soon, Wanda woke up and started crying, which woke up Steve and Bucky as well. Giving FRIDAY control, Tony went back to the cabin after talking seriously to Natasha. "Do not touch anything," he ordered.

"Is this a test?" she asked him.

Not knowing what to say, Tony just shrugged and left, hoping for the best. As it turned out, the world was not working in his favor. Wanda had peed her pants, Clint and Steve had gotten into a fist fight, and Bucky had joined in, siding with Steve of course, but Clint seemed to be holding his own.

"Break it up," Tony yelled, entering the cabin; he hadn't meant to yell, but he was close to having a panic attack from the idea of having to care for these kids.

All three boys backed away guiltily, none of them looking at him. "There will be no fighting on my plane," he announced.

"But Clint was being mean to Steve," Bucky protested.

Tony turned his gaze to the accused who said nothing and wouldn't meet his eyes. "Clint, stop being mean to the others," the inventor said, "for the next month they are going to be your foster siblings. Get along!"

Physically bringing the kid back to his seat, Tony began to wonder if Clint had heard anything he'd said given that he hadn't been watching the adult's lips. The inventor knew that the older version of Clint was mostly deaf, but he didn't know it had started so young. Turning back to find Bucky and Steve smiling in triumph, Tony exchanged his contemplative face for an expression of anger and disappointment. "Steve Rogers," he began, "fighting is not the answer, especially when the other kid doesn't hit first. Is that understood?"

Both boys nodded. "Okay. Go back to you seats."

It was then time for Tony to address the Wanda problem.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments are lovely,  
> kudos are great,  
> tell me your thoughts,  
> and I will update.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Traveling with kids is hard.

Luckily, T'challa's staff had the foresight to pack spare underwear for the Wanda, but after changing the little girl, Tony had no new clothes to give her. The dress she had been wearing was wet and smelled, so the inventor gave Wanda the shirt that had been intended for Bucky. It was big enough on her that it acted like a dress. The 9 year old was still wearing his older self's shirt, but he's put on kid sized pants, as had Steve.

Next, Tony was left with the problem of how to entertain the kids; he hadn't been expecting passengers so he hadn't packed toys. Even Clint could only stare down at the Atlantic Ocean so long before getting bored.

Tony was typically against parking kids in front of screens; that had been done quite often to him as a child. He believed that human interaction and playing outside and creativity were all very important for the little ones.

His parents had only stopped trying to get him to watch tv after the third time he disassembled the device. All the same, Tony was out of ideas and had FRIDAY turn on a Disney movie for the kids. He had her put on closed captions in English, but he wasn't really sure how much good that would do for Clint.

Returning to the cockpit, Tony found that Natasha hadn't touched anything, as instructed, but was still wide awake and looking annoyed. "Everyone else is watching a movie," he told her, "do you want to join them?"

She looked at him like it was the most ridiculous idea in the world, so he dropped it and decided to teach her how to fly a plane. She was a quick learner, but couldn't reach everything, so Tony had FRIDAY supervise and assist while he made several phone calls. He knew it was bad idea, but, well... priorities.

For the last 40 minutes of the flight, Tony resumed control. He had contacted an old MIT buddy at Logan who owed him a big favor, and thus was able to land on a secluded bit of airfield with relative ease. He had considered asking Rhodey's friends at Hanscom, but decided against it. The MIT friend had also agreed to park the plane in a private hanger for him, but getting the kids off the plane presented a new challenge.

Natasha was fairly easy, shadowing Tony's every move, and Wanda was satisfied by being carried, but Clint had fallen asleep, Sam was being difficult on purpose, and Steve and Bucky didn't want to leave the "magical boxes that tell stories."

Tony ended up getting Steve to carry the snack bag, god bless the manners Sarah Rogers had instilled in her son, which meant that Bucky was actually doing most of the carrying. The inventor himself carried Wanda and his personal bags.

The next problem that present itself was how to get the kids home, relatively speaking. Tony had a large suburban house outside the city, leftover from his MIT days, but getting the kids there would be a challenge.

The house itself was quite convenient, maybe 40 minutes from the airport, 7 minutes or less from 2 grocery stores, and sort of near a few playground/park areas. Over the years, Tony had rented out the house or offered it as a temporary residency to friends, kind strangers, and employees. It had 3 official bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms, but there were at least 4 other spaces that could be used as bedrooms.

When Pepper had broken up with him, Tony had unofficially given her the Malibu house and then slowly cleared out the rest of his residential properties across the world so he could stay where he wanted. It had taken a while of course, he didn't want to kick anyone out with them having somewhere else to go. Luckily, there hadn't been anyone living in the house to which he planned to take the kids.

Though it took a bit of lying, some sneaking, and a smidge of hacking, he managed to get himself and the kids through Customs and Immigration. Taking the kids to a private lounge area, Tony flirted with one of the flight attendants, Greg, who then agreed to watch the kids while the inventor took care of something else.

Given how late it was, getting someone to deliver the things he'd ordered was practically a miracle. Still, Tony did manage it get a set of child medicines, an EpiPen, an inhaler, extra supplies, and a set of RIC hearing aids delivered to him at the airport.

When the inventor arrived back at the lounge, the flight attendant rushed out with a look of fear on his face, but not before he accepted a $50 bill. Tony entered cautiously, "what did you do to the poor guy?" he asked.

Clint and Wanda were asleep, while Steve and Bucky were focused on the tv in the room, leaving Natasha and Sam, one of whom muttered "nuthin" while the other shrugged.

Tony was a bit concerned that Natasha had yet to sleep; it had been nearly 15 hours since the transformation.

Sitting down, he pulled out his ever present tool kit, and started tinkering with the hearing aids. Sam continued sulking in the corner, while Natasha did floor exercises and practiced the moves for a fist fight. Eventually, Tony finished his tinkering, and decided it was passed time for a change of venue. He hated to wake the sleepers, but he wanted to get them all out of the airport as soon as possible.

First Tony gently shook Clint awake, and taking him to the side, helped the kid put in and adjust the new hearing aids. "Thank you," Clint said quietly, staring at the ground.

Tony was willing to bet that the kid had never received a gift before, and had only been offered the barest necessities. The inventor considered rectifying the situation by spoiling him rotten, though he knew that was a horrible way of parenting.

Waking Wanda was a little more difficult, first she tried to go back to sleep and when he wouldn't let her, she started crying. It seemed that she had wet her pants again, but that situation was quickly taken care of. Along with the hearing aids, Tony had gotten diapers and he'd stopped to buy footie pjs from a nearby gift shop. For that reason, they were decorated with iconic Boston images like teapots, the Reds Sox logo, an outline of the State House, the Citgo sign, and others.

Finally, Tony was notified that the car he'd ordered had arrived and it was time to go. They were all grumpy, sleep deprived, and hungry, but at least that meant no one had the energy to argue about getting the car. Being that it was the early morning, there was no traffic, and getting to the house took less time then expected.

Bucky got himself and Steve out of the car, and the two ran towards the house, marveling at how clean everything was, the number of trees, and how green the grass looked. Sam also got out of the car, and he helped Wanda undo the buckles on her seat. Clint and Natasha were the last to get out, and they also took the time to admire the house. As Tony walked across the street to get his key from the neighbor's planter, he almost smiled. He had always loved watching others in their moment of discovery or revelation, kids especially.

Unlocking the door, Tony brought his bags inside and pushed in the several boxes that had been waiting on the doorstep. He was extremely thankful that they had arrived, given that he'd only ordered the clothes and toys they day before.

Calling the kids inside, Tony debated trying to organize some sort of group activity, but decided against it. Unpacking the boxes seemed like a lot of work, but Bucky and Wanda needed clothes the fit them; Steve had finally changed out of his adult self's shirt and put on the new one. It was 7:00 AM, but everyone was exhausted, so Tony let them sleep on couches, chairs or the floor as they pleased, suggesting that they might do something fun in the afternoon.

While the inventor had planned on organizing the house with the kids unconscious, but of course, Natasha refused to sleep. Tony settled for having her help him unpack a box of toys and such, before they both went for the leftover snacks, though Natasha was only willing to try them once she'd seen Tony eat them.

The two spent the next hour or so on the couch, Natasha trying to teach Tony words in Russian.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments are lovely,  
> kudos are great,  
> tell me your thoughts,  
> and I will update.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The adventure begins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a long one. For me anyway.

Word games with Natasha only lasted 45 minutes before Tony was silently willing her to go to sleep. Of course, she didn't.

Sam and Clint both woke up, and that was when the yelling started. Sam didn't trust the inventor and his solution was to start ranting about how everyone thought they could control him because he didn't have parents anymore. At that point, the rant turned into sobbing, but when Tony tried to comfort the kid, it was back to yelling.

Steve and Bucky woke up then, and being Steve Rogers, the 6 year old had to join in the fight. Sam may have been angry and grieving, but he knew enough not to direct his feelings at a child half his age. He decided to go sulk upstairs, and Tony didn't have the energy to intervene.

Wanda was crying, Clint was perched on the top of a bookshelf, Natasha had disappeared, Bucky was poking at the stump where his arm used to be, and Steve was staring in the direction that Sam had gone.

First things first, Tony checked Wanda. Once he set her up with a set of barnyard animal toys, her cries trailed off and she began playing on her own, much to his relief. Next problem to address was Clint; Tony knew that the archer loved heights as an adult, but as a child, a fall could seriously hurt him.

Tony approached the bookcase slowly, but was interrupted by Steve asking if he and Bucky could go outside. The inventor agreed, giving them a few rules. "Don't run into the street, don't talk to strangers, stay close by, and don't eat anything from out there," the inventor instructed.

He didn't know if the most recent tenants had changed the garden/yard areas much, and if anything that Tony had planted during college was still around, he didn't want to risk the kids eating it. The hothouse in the basement hadn't been used for years, but certain poisonous berries, hallucinogenic mushrooms, and marijuana could still be growing outside seasonally.

Letting the two out the back door, the inventor returned to find the situation unchanged. Again, Tony cautiously moved towards the bookshelf, trying to appear non-threatening. "Clint," he began, "it's not safe for you up there. I'm gonna need you to come down."

It took a fair amount of coaxing, but the kid did eventually descend the bookshelf like a ladder. "I'm going to go check on Sam, can you find Natasha, please," Tony requested.

When Clint's eyes widened with fear, the inventor revised his plan. "How about I go find Natasha and Sam, and you stay here and play with Wanda. Can you do that?"

The child nodded, and that was enough for Tony, so he left to search for the mini assassin. After a solid 5 minutes of looking, Tony gave up, "Natasha," he called, "come out, come out, wherever you are!"

The little girl clearly didn't understand the joke, but she did come out into the open. Immediately, Tony was assaulted by questions about where he kept the gym and the weapons, why hadn't target practice started, who was she going to spar with. The inventor didn't answer. Instead, he sat down on the floor, across from where she was standing. He did it partially to appear less threatening, but more because he was really tired and didn't want to be standing. "I need you to apologize to Clint," he told her.

Natasha looked confused, "to apologize is to admit defeat," she sounded like she was reciting something, "defeat is failure. Failure is not tolerated."

Tony had to digest her words for a moment, finally beginning to understand the scope of the little girl and her adult self's issues. "The rules are different here," he said after a moment considering how to respond, personally, he'd hate the reason 'because I said so' as a child, but that seemed to be what Natasha responded to best at this age, "I'm in charge here, and I'm telling you to be nice to Clint. Understood?"

She nodded and followed him back to the living room where Wanda was playing and Clint had climbed the bookcase again at their entrance. Tony checked on Wanda while simultaneously watching Natasha have a quiet conversation with Clint that ended as the mini archer climbed down.

Allowing Sam to continue sulking, Tony went to an upstairs linen closet. Pulling aside the visible shelves revealed a few sets of clothes; the inventor tried to keep some at every property he owned, just in case. In case of what, he didn't know, but something always went wrong, and there were endless possibilities.

Tony also took stock of the available linens, blankets, and towels, discovering that there were enough to provide for everyone, so long as laundry was done twice per week.

Soon, the kids were hungry, and the inventor realized that besides what was left of the snacks, the house was devoid of food. As he piled the whole group into the car, Tony passed out the rest of the snacks, and hoped for the best.

 

Their destination was a grocery store; one of the new age ish, all natural, organic ones. Despite all its hipsterness, the store was huge and trying to shop without losing at least one of the kids would be a challenge.

Tony got a cart and a basket at the entrance, quickly handing the latter to the oldest of the children, Sam. Wanda, being 2.5, was placed in the section of the cart specifically designed for holding small children and Natasha sat in the body of the cart where the food was supposed to go; Tony had no idea how she got in, but it wasn't worth questioning. She may have been 5 years old, but she was small and light and agile.

Clint had wanted to climb in with her or at least wedge himself in the open area underneath the main cart, but when Tony said no in an authoritative voice, the boy backed off. Bucky was standing beside the cart silently, holding Steve's hand, marveling at what he could see of the store, and every so often glancing over at the empty sleeve where his other arm should have been; Tony hadn't yet had time to build him a prosthetic.

Steve himself was jumping around excitedly, pointing at all the food as he remarked on how the Depression must be over because there was so much food. Tony was just glad that the little boy hadn't started looking at prices; that wasn't an explanation he felt like giving. He had the feeling that "we are 80 ish years in the future" would not go over well. Though, at the same time, the kid had to have already figured out that he wasn't living in the world with which he was familiar.

Tony instructed Clint and Steve to hold on to the cart, and Sam walked in front. Things started to go wrong the second they walked down the first aisle. Sam turned around, knocking boxes of the shelf with the cart. Though Clint kept a tight grip on the cart, his small fingers intertwining with Natasha's through the plastic grid, Bucky moved to help fix the problem, and having only one arm, he had to let go of Steve's hand in order to help which the 6 year old did not appreciate. The sickly boy began crying and then coughing and then gasping for air as he clutched at his throat.

At that moment, Wanda decided that she wanted attention, which made Tony realize that she was still dressed in the equivalent to pjs, and Natasha chose to stand up in the cart. First things first, Tony pulled Steve's inhaler out of the bag by Natasha's feet. He was really glad in that moment that he had taught Bucky how to operate the modern inhaler. Handing the contraption over, Tony then addressed the Natasha problem. Gently, he pushed her back onto her butt and gave her a look that said "don't you dare try that again, young lady," while out loud he informed her, "this is a shopping cart, not a surf board."

That started her wondering what a surfboard was and asking questions when he replied that "it's like an ironing board that you stand on so you can go out on the ocean without having to swim."

Cursing his big mouth, he ignored the rest of her questions and moved on to give Wanda some attention as he pulled Clint away from where the boy was trying to climb into the cart. When Tony finally looked at her, Wanda babbled a few words before holding out her arms to be picked up. He shook his head apologetically, "I'm sorry, sweetheart."

As Tony started pulling things off the shelves and tucking them in around Natasha, he spoke softly to the toddler, explaining why he couldn't take her out of the cart. Tony imagined that his argument would not hold up in court or against the adult Wanda, but that didn't matter. Sam was still standing patiently when Tony turned back to him.

He indicated the basket in Sam's hand and then announced that Bucky and Steve would go with Sam to pick out their favorite foods. Steve had declined to use the inhaler, but was breathing better, and the store sold nothing resembling junk food, so Tony wasn't too worried. And then, for a brief moment, there was a calm.

Clint was looking around, he'd clearly never been in such a large grocery store, and Natasha was reorganizing the groceries surrounding her. Wanda was happy enough once Tony picked out a children's applesauce pouch and opened it for her.

Of course, the peace didn't last long, and chaos resumed. Sam, Steve, and Bucky came back with a basket piled high with muffins, cookies, bread, and fruit. First, Sam dropped the basket sending food tumbling to the floor, then Wanda chucked the empty applesauce pouch in no particular direction and it ended up hitting Steve. Bucky was not happy about the projectile being launched at his best friend's head and forever in defense of Steve Rogers, the 9 year old started to yell at Wanda.

Though she might not have understood what Bucky was saying, she could tell he was angry with her and also a lot bigger. She started crying.

Tony told Clint to help the other boys pick up what had fallen from the basket and proceeded to remove Wanda from the seat. He hoisted the little girl onto his hip and let her tears soak his shirt without complaint as he rubbed her back gently and glared at Bucky.

By the time the boys had gathered and replaced the basket's contents, Tony saw that Natasha had climbed out of the cart; he caught a glimpse of her red hair disappearing around the corner.

Instructing the other kids to, "stay right here," Tony rounded the corner with Wanda on his hip. He had to put on his most authoritative tone to get Natasha to come back, but to be fair she had spent the last year or so of her life under the control of strict old instructors who believed strongly in public punishment and humiliation.

When Tony returned to the cart with Natasha holding his hand and Wanda's arms around his neck, he found the mess was cleaned up and all the groceries were back where they should be, but Clint was arguing with Steve, and Bucky was yelling at a stranger who had asked him about his missing arm.

After saying a few choice words to said stranger which prompted him to leave, Tony moved on to Steve and Clint; he would lecture Bucky later. Steve was lifted into the cart where Natasha had been, being so small and sickly, he fit and wasn't too heavy. Tony made a note to lecture Steve about bullying later as well. He may have been younger than Clint, but he was definitely the more aggressive of the two kids.

Luckily, Sam had stayed where he was and Wanda had finally stopped crying, though she didn't want to go back in the cart. Instructing Sam to give Bucky the basket and take over pushing the cart, Tony held Wanda in one arm and held hands with Natasha who used her other one for the remainder of their shopping. The cart was basically overflowing by the time they finished, and each kid was holding at least one item.

The cash register proved to be a new challenge. All the kids had to vacate the cart so the bags could be put in, and Steve and Bucky started asking questions about all the technology that they were seeing. The boys found it fascinating, while Tony saw it as quite primitive; he knew he was spoiled, having the intelligence and money that he did.

The inventor had to put Wanda down in order to access a credit card, and she immediately ran off towards the nearest shiny object. Clint stayed by the register, but he had grabbed a handful of rubber bands, and had taken several toothpicks from a sample they'd passed nearly 30 minutes earlier.

Natasha tried to climb into the cart again, and Sam ran off when Tony was turned the other way. Luckily, the 12 year old returned with Wanda who had slipped and on the smooth floors because her footie pjs didn't have those rubbery pads on the bottom. 

Sam was continuously helpful, keeping an eye on Clint and Natasha as Tony tried to simultaneously keep Wanda from crying due to all the noise, maintain control over Bucky and Steve, and pay for the groceries. He was very thankful when the bagger offered to help him out to the car. Arranging the kids in the car while the store employee was getting the groceries into the trunk had its own difficulties.

Bucky had to sit next to Steve and with his arm on the side with the door, while Clint and Natasha had to be kept far away from each other because Natasha kept hitting him and being a child of the red room, she could cause some real damage with those tiny fists. Wanda hated her car seat and thus she hated being in the car altogether. Sam hated cars with a passion, finding them claustrophobic and horrible, so it took some bribery to get him in at all.

When all the kids and grocery bags had made it into the car, Tony tipped the store employee generously; he knew it wasn't required or expected, but he was grateful for her help. Also, it looked like she was coming off a long shift, and judging by her age, was probably trying to pay for college. Tony made a note to look her up and help her out with bills if she needed it.

By the time they got home, it was just past 5 and the kids were hungry. Wanda and Sam were the only ones vocal about it, while Tony imagined that Steve and Bucky were used to food shortages and Natasha and Clint were used to deliberately not being fed, but he knew all the kids wanted dinner.

Giving Sam two bags, Bucky one, and Clint a particularly light one, Tony still had to make several trips to get all the groceries into the kitchen. Changing Wanda's diaper was a thankfully quick affair, however it was followed by dinner preparations. Letting the kids loose in the living room was probably not Tony's best idea, but he knew they wouldn't sit still as he unpacked groceries and made dinner for them. Hell, if it were him waiting for just about anything, he wouldn't be able to sit still.

Tony was a decent cook, a rather good one actually, but preparing a meal for six children was not in his repertoire of experience; they had eaten various snacks on the way home from the airport. He decided on steamed veggies, orzo, and chicken. Though he hated to leave the food unflavored, Tony knew that kids were often not fond of spices.

The kids played happily with the toys and such that Tony had ordered the night before. Steve took to the drawing supplies immediately, Sam stuck to novels and comic books, Wanda seemed to like Legos, and Clint was happier with the magnetic dartboard than Tony had seen him since the deaging event.

Bucky had been eyeing the little science kit, but his blond counterpart wasn't interested, so Bucky sat next to Steve quietly, watching the other kid draw and organizing his supplies in rainbows or by pencil length and size, while Natasha sat in a corner by herself, eyeing the art supplies with the deviousness she was known for.

That was how Steve and by extension Bucky ended up in the kitchen. Natasha had slowly taken the art supplies piece by piece, hiding it until she had what she wanted at which point she too disappeared. Bucky had talked Steve out of finding her to start a fight, so the boys came to help with dinner. When he heard the story, Tony sighed, "I will talk to Natasha, but in the future, please offer to share with her to avoid this issue. She is younger than you and needs some guidance. I won't have you starting fights."

Steve nodded, and Tony gave the boys dishes and cutlery for them to set the table. Getting all the kids to the table was fairly easy; they were all hungry and even Natasha came out of hiding, though the location of the art supplies remained a mystery.

Chicken was put onto 7 plates, as were the vegetables and as Tony was draining the orzo, he heard someone say, "What's that?"

"It's called orzo," he replied, "if you behave, I might give you some."

Steve, Bucky, and Sam knew he was joking and Wanda and Natasha weren't listening, they were busy making faces at each other, but Clint sat up straight, folding his hands in his lap. He nudged Natasha who was still making faces at the 2 year old, "stop that, if we don't behave we don't get food."

Tony stiffened when he heard Clint's words, thankful when Natasha laughed and told the boy, "it's just a joke."

Knowing her, she had probably understood that fact from his tone of voice. Watching Clint's expression, Tony could tell that the boy didn't believe her. As he was passing out full plates to each of the kids, save Wanda, the inventor turned towards Clint, "You and I need to talk," he told the boy.

The 7 year old muttered a soft "yes, sir," and moved to stand in the corner by the door.

"After you have eaten your fill," Tony corrected himself, guiding Clint back to the table.

Once Wanda's food had been cut into pieces and put before her, dinner was a relatively happy affair. Bucky and Steve were still amazed by the quantity and quality of the food, while Clint was simply glad to be fed. Sam lightened up a bit, going so far as to talk with Steve and Natasha. The former had been concerned that they hadn't said grace, but the tantalizing foods distracted him. The latter ate excruciatingly slowly, declaring that she wasn't hungry.

By the time the meal had ended, 3/4 of Wanda's food had made it to her stomach while the remaining quarter was spread over her face, clothes, and hands as well as the table. Natasha finished eating last, leaving at least half the food on her plate, while Steve and Bucky had eaten everything they could and still managed to get food all over their mouths and sleeves. Clint had eaten everything on his plate extremely neatly, and when the kids were dismissed, he helped carry the dishes to the sink.

Tony's first task was to change Wanda's diaper and clothing, and she did not make it easy. The little girl ran away when Tony tried to dress her, and wouldn't sit still for the changing. Tony decided the he really needed to potty train the kid, so he had a quick chat with her about it, using hand gestures and pointing to bridge the language barrier. He also grabbed clean shirts for Steve and Bucky.

Depositing Wanda on the floor next to were Sam was reading, he left her with wooden blocks so he could go talk to Natasha. The conversation went fairly quickly as Tony explained that toys and art supplies were to be shared not stolen. Once she had returned with the art things, Tony left Steve to draw as Bucky looked on, both of them in new shirts, while Natasha danced to music coming from a small headset Tony had made years earlier.

Sam was on the couch reading a picture book to Wanda, and all seemed well except that Clint was nowhere to be found. Tony did eventually find the boy, facing the corner silently in the kitchen. As he began cleaning up the mess from dinner, Tony instructed Clint to sit at the table, which the boy did. "Clint," the adult began, "I want you to tell me why you thought I wouldn't feed you. Everyone else seemed to understand that I was joking."

"Sorry, sir, I just thought..." the boy trailed off.

"Yes?" Tony prompted. "My last foster dad said that if me and Barney didn't behave we wouldn't get dinner. I didn't hear him, so I was bad and then..."

"Then you didn't get dinner," Tony finished for him.

Clint nodded, but his eyebrows remained furrowed in a way that would be cute if it wasn't indicative of emotional trauma. Tony sat down next to the little boy, "I can tell there's something else."

"My first foster dad took away clothes and food for a whole day after I spilled ketchup on a white shirt. Said if I couldn't be responsible then I didn't deserve 'em."

Tony took a deep breath to reign in his anger at how the kid had been treated before taking Clint's hands, and looking the kid in the eyes. "I will never take away food or clothing," he promised, "If you make a mess, tell me, and I will help you clean it up. Okay?"

"Yes, sir." Clint nodded, looking at his lap.

"One more thing, please call me Tony. If you aren't comfortable with that, Stark, Hey You, or any creative nickname you can come up with will work. Natasha has even started calling me Mr. Tony."

Clint nodded again. Sensing that he wouldn't be getting anything else from the kid Tony stood, releasing his hands, "Go have some fun before bed," he instructed.

Clint scampered from the room and Tony could only hope that particular problem had been resolved. However, he was a genius and realist, and he knew that he'd barely scratched the surface.

When he had finally finished cleaning the kitchen, Tony moved back to the room where the kids were playing. He found that Clint was playing darts again, Steve was still drawing with Bucky looking on and organizing the supplies, and Natasha was nowhere to be found.

Sam was lying on his back on the floor and Wanda was sitting on his stomach giggling. The minute the little girl saw Tony, she scrambled away from Sam, running towards the inventor. Sam looked a little disappointed, but he went back to reading his book as Tony hoisted Wanda onto his hip. "Where's Natasha?" he asked, just as the redhead appeared out of the bathroom.

Sighing in relief, Tony watched her join Clint's game of darts before he left with Wanda to go make up beds for the night. He was again thankful for the hall closet filled with useful things.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments are lovely,  
> kudos are great,  
> tell me your thoughts,  
> and I will update.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bedtime and all that goes with it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm tired. Sorry for any mistakes.
> 
> What do you think of Tony's story?

The genius had easily picked up on the kids' dynamics and planned the rooms accordingly. The house had several bedrooms, but there were also a few other spaces that Tony chose to use for the kids' rooms. While the family that had been living in the house most recently, a single mother and her 3 children, hadn't been using all the rooms, the extra bed frames and mattresses from Tony's college years were still in the house, neatly tucked away.

Most of the beds required little assembly, but there were two that needed to be put together. While there were thankfully no additional screws or nails needed, trying to do any kind of heavy lifting around a toddler is a dangerous task for all parties involved.

Wanda ran back and forth between the rooms, yelling something that Tony didn't understand, but he responded by telling her what he was doing in a cheery voice and tickling her whenever she came into reach. That got one of the beds assembled, and while the inventor turned exhausted caretaker worked on the second one, the little girl occupied herself by removing all of her clothes.

Tony didn't bother fighting her on the clothing issue, and instead pulled a laundry basket out of the closet, setting it down in the hallway, fairly easily accessible to all rooms. Wanda decided to go downstairs, at least that was how the inventor interpreted her pointing and subsequent exit.

Quickly, Tony pulled two beds into one room because he knew that Bucky and Steve would insist on being together. Sam, Clint, and Natasha were all to be given their own rooms, though Tony briefly considered putting Wanda with Natasha. Given that he didn't know what the mini-super-spy's night habits were, he decided Wanda was better off on her own.

He designated the lowest bed available for the 2.5 year old because he didn't have a crib, and didn't want a fall from bed to cause serious damage. By the time Tony had finished setting up all the rooms and beds with sheets and blankets and pillows, Wanda had returned, and wanted to be carried. Soon enough she was asleep on his shoulder.

Tony didn't feel like waking her for tooth brushing and the blanket she had found somewhere would serve as a decent substitute for pj's so he simply tucked her in and gave her a quick kiss on the forehead before going back to the other kids.

He was sure that the adult Wanda would have been disgusted by the good night kiss, but as a child, his mother and Jarvis had engrained the ritual in him. The 2.5 year old Wanda didn't have an issue with it either.

Tony had expected that getting the other kids to bed would be difficult, because with this group, everything was hard, no matter the age. He wasn't wrong.

Sam was the easiest, he showed the sullen 12 year old the location of bed, bathroom, and toiletries and let the kid go read in his room. Tony knew that a good caretaker would make sure the kid washed up and enforce a bedtime, but the inventor had other children to deal with. He filed the guilt away to deal with later.

Deciding that baths could be taken in the morning, Tony brought the remaining 4 to their respective shared bathrooms to brush teeth. He knew it was wrong, but the inventor was a little glad that none of the kids had ever had specially decorated toothbrushes like he saw in the store. It meant that no one complained about the solid colored spares he provided; the hall closets were full of nice surprises.

Bucky and Clint's ideas about dental hygiene left something to be desired, but Tony figured that problem could be addressed later, or not at all. It was 1 month right? Herding the kids into their bedrooms wasn't easy, but pj's became a far greater issue.

Bucky was okay with the Captain America pj's that were his size, but Steve was upset that his had little steam engines on them instead of being Captain America ones. It didn't seem to matter that neither of them knew who Captain America was.

Clint didn't complain one bit about his purple Hawkeye pj's, though he did look at them in confusion, and Natasha was baffled by the idea of wearing pants to bed. To avoid another issue, Tony dug out a Black Widow nightgown which seemed to satisfy her.

Stopping in with Sam, Tony gave him a t-shirt decorated with birds of prey and grey sweatpants. Clint and Natasha had no bedtime rituals that they shared with the inventor, so he settled for turning out the light once they were in bed. Natasha immediately flipped on the nightstand lamp, but Tony didn't have the strength to argue.

At first, Steve was adamant that he should receive a bedtime kiss followed by a lullaby, but eventually he settled for a short story and a hug. Tony knew that the kid had no recollection of the conflict between his adult self and the inventor, but he still couldn't make himself give the skinny child a kiss.

The story that Tony told Steve, and by virtue of location, Bucky as well, wasn't exactly what one might find in typical bedtime book. “Once upon a time,” he began, “there was a little boy.”

“What was his name?” Steve asked.

Tony grimaced, “what do you want it to be?”

“Clark,” was the decision.

“Okay, so Clark and his best friend Hank, were very close, and they played together all the time. They went to school together, and their parents were friends, they even had Thanksgiving dinner together.”

“Why is his name Hank?” Steve asked.

“Because I said so,” Tony replied, not unkindly, “now shhhh, or I'll stop the story.”

That seemed to be enough, because Steve responded with a muttered, “fine,” and leaned back on his pillow expectantly.

The inventor sighed, “one day, Hank's parents decided to move all the way across the country. That made Clark very sad because he would really miss his best friend. They promised to write letters, and never stop being friends.”

Having received no complaints so far, Tony continued, “over the years, Hank and Clark stopped writing so many letters, until they had no contact with each other anymore. Clark was sad for a while, and he didn't have many friends, but after a while, he found a group to be part of. There were a bunch of kids in the group, by his favorites were the girl, Diana, and her friend Oliver, a boy named Wally, and another 2, called Billy and Edward.”

Steve made to open his mouth, but quickly shut it when Tony gave him a warning look, and continued with the story. “There was always tension between Edward and Clark, but they got close after a while, every Thursday night, they would get together at Edward's house. After many years, Hank's family moved back to town. It was different than before, Hank was like an entirely different person. Still, Clark wanted to rekindle their friendship. He started going over to Hank's house on Thursday's.”

Tony was trying to figure out how to wrap up the story. “That made Edward sad because Clark wasn't coming over anymore; he liked Hank better. Diana and Oliver got in a fight, and so did Edward and Clark. It all got very messy. In the end, Clark moved on with Hank, taking some of the old friend group with him. After all, Hank and Clark would always be best friends.”

“What about the others?” Bucky asked quietly.

“Diana and Oliver made up, Wally found new friends, and Billy moved away. They all lived somewhat happily ever after.”

“What about Edward?” Steve asked.

Tony released a tired chuckle. “That's a story for another time,” he said getting up to leave.

At the last moment, Bucky asked for a hug too, and Tony obliged. The kid wrapped one arm around the inventor, whispering, "I want my arm back."

"I know, kiddo," Tony replied, "we will talk about it in the morning."

Assuming all the kids were in bed if not asleep, Tony went down to his office to set up his screens, catch up on work for SI, and file the paperwork for his project in Nairobi. 30 minutes later found several tech updates and two new proposals ready for board approval, and Tony in the living room, finalizing the specs for Bucky's arm and Clint's new hearing aids. He had taken the ones that were delivered to the airport and fixed them, but he knew he could do better.

Deciding that if he was planning on raising kids he should get some sleep, Tony changed into an old Black Sabbath t-shirt and pj pants. Absentmindedly, he thought that Pepper would be proud. _Look Pep, I'm going to sleep at night, just like a normal person._ Then he was hit with a wave of sadness and guilt over the death of the relationship. He pushed it to the side, that kind of thinking wasn't productive at the moment.

As he was about to turn off the light, the inventor heard Wanda crying. Dragging himself out of bed, Tony went to the little girl. Being that she was too tired to fight him, in less than ten minutes, Wanda was in an overnight diaper and a pink nightgown that read "princess" in dark red letters. She went down again quickly and Tony smiled at her sleeping form; she was quite adorable when she was 2 and 1/2 years old and not trying to kill him. He resolved to take a picture of all the kids in their pj's the next morning.

Heading back to his own room, Tony noticed that Natasha's light was still on. Upon knocking and entering, Tony found the girl sitting on her bed; she appeared to be waiting patiently for something. "Sweetheart," he approached cautiously, "why aren't you asleep?"

She hadn't slept since they left Wakanda, and he was getting worried. "You don't have any," was her response to the query.

Tony moved to sit down next to her, "I don't have any what?"

"Handcuffs," she replied, "I looked everywhere."

Tony chuckled, "for future reference, darling, it's not nice to go through other people's things without their permission."

Natasha nodded, so Tony continued, "why do you need handcuffs?"

"So I can sleep," she answered like it was obvious.

Tony remembered something his Aunt Peggy had said about a woman named Dottie, a prominent character in one of his favorite stories, and understood Natasha a little better. "Why is that?" he asked her, curious as to the justification she might provide.

"So I don't accidentally run away when I'm asleep," she told him.

Tony nodded, it was a convincing rationalization and when Natasha returned to her adult form, he would have to check whether she was still sleeping cuffed to the bed post. For the time being, Tony had no long term plan to remedy the situation, so he said the first thing he could think of, "How about you sleep in my room, kiddo. That way I can make sure you don't run away in the night."

Natasha was clearly tired because she readily agreed, holding her arms up indicating that she wanted to be carried. Knowing her, she probably just wanted to see what would happen. Tony gave in, and 2 minutes later they were tucked under the covers on opposite sides of the bed.

 

* * *

 

 

The morning found Natasha curled up on top of Tony with her head pressed against his shoulder. Tony thought about getting up, but not wanting to upset the little girl, he stayed put, freeing just his hands, and arranging the immediate delivery of the two creations from the night before. He would have made them both himself, but with 6 kids, he just didn't have the time, and in this particular house, he didn't have a full workshop.

Tony leaned back and was about to drift off again when Sam entered. Seeing Natasha asleep in Tony's lap, the 12 year old knew to be quiet, but he was hungry, and the inventor trying to leave the bed woke Natasha who proceeded to declare her hunger as well.

In the kitchen, Tony found Steve and Bucky trying to make breakfast while Clint looked on, unimpressed. The 7 year old looked particularly tired, and the inventor suspected that he hadn't slept all night. Tony hoped it was just something about the first night in a new home and would pass. He didn't want the kid only sleeping when he passed out from exhaustion like he had on the trip to the U.S.

Sending Sam to get Wanda, Tony set about making waffles, after getting Steve to back off from trying to help. The kid was sort of sweet and wanted to be helpful, but he was thin, short, and most of all, clumsy. Tony had to put in considerable effort to be kind and gentle rather than annoyed or angry.

Sam got back with Wanda, who was in a fresh diaper, before even the first waffles were ready. Upon receiving a quizzical look from the only adult in the room, he explained that Wanda had managed to use the toilet with a little help. Tony was so happy with this fact, and the new realization that she had already had some toilet training, that he let Wanda sit on his lap during breakfast.

By the time all six kids and Tony had finished eating, the table and chairs were sticky with syrup as we're all hands present, and crumbs were everywhere. Natasha had eaten less than anyone but Wanda, however it was still more than she had consumed at dinner, so Tony was satisfied. Resolving to deal with the furniture and dishes later, Tony got himself and all the kids as clean as possible.

At least no one was putting coffee grounds in the disposal.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments are lovely,  
> kudos are great,  
> tell me your thoughts,  
> and I will update.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bathtime+an old friend

They had a quick photo op on the living room sofa after breakfast. Sam and Natasha sat on either side of Tony, Wanda sat his lap, Bucky and Steve sat on the floor, and Clint perched on the back of the couch. They took several normal photos and two funny ones, before Tony decided that all pj's except Sam and Natasha's were going in the laundry. Wanda had no problem running around without clothes and neither did Steve, but the other kids and Tony did.

He had had several orders of kids clothing delivered and he decided to let the kids choose from whatever was in their size. It was choice he would live to regret.

First, Tony had to make it clear to the young redhead that she would not be expected to spar and was therefore allowed to wear a skirt or dress if she so desired. She seemed to be warming up to him rather quickly, so he suspected that she hadn't been at the red room more than a year. Unsurprisingly, Natasha chose clothing in mostly red and black, but she did choose some in other colors. She also took several t-shirts that Steve had his eye on, which started a fight.

When Tony pulled the two apart, Steve had the beginnings of a black eye while Natasha came out unscathed. He just barely kept Bucky from attacking her in retribution. He got Steve an ice pack wrapped in a towel, and the situation was settled for the time being.

Taking Bucky to the side, Tony gave the lecture he had been putting off since their trip to the grocery store. He told the kid that he shouldn't be involving himself in fights, and that taking physical revenge on small children was wrong. He made it clear to Bucky that as someone other than the responsible adult, breaking up fights was not his responsibility. Lecturing had never been Tony's strong suit, he was used to being on the other side of it.

Sam was fairly amicable about choosing clothes given that his size wasn't shared by any of the other kids. Steve picked a fight with Clint over some socks, but unsurprisingly, it was the mini archer who backed down first. In that one interaction, Tony understood a bit more about Steve as an adult, and maybe a little about Clint as well.

Bucky wasn't picky about his clothing, though styles had changed since the 1920's and 30's, so he was a bit confused, where as Steve was young enough to just accept it.

By the time Tony had finished helping Wanda choose clothing, the room was a disaster. There was clothing everywhere as well as materials from the packaging. Baring Wanda, Tony had the kids gather the discarded clothing into a basket which he would fold later.

Finally, it was his turn to pick clothing and change. Tony decided on a Black Sabbath shirt and worn, soft jeans. When he exited his room, he found 5 of the kids waiting for him, still in their pajamas. Well, 4 of them were in their pjs, Wanda had gotten completely undressed. He was informed that Sam had gone to take a shower, and he decided it would be a good idea for everyone to do so.

Clint and Bucky insisted that they could bathe themselves, so Tony didn't push, hoping that they would call him if they needed help. Steve and Natasha went with Tony and Wanda to a third bathroom. Before they could get anything started, Clint and Bucky reappeared, asking how to work the shower controls. It was a simple explanation for the little archer, but the other kids insisted on a short description of how the shower worked.

Returning to the 3 youngest children, Tony found that Natasha was already showering, having figured out the controls on her own. While the miniaturized captain was arguing with Tony about the use of different toiletries and bath products,Wanda was emptying the cabinet under the sink. Tony had yet to provide shampoo and conditioner, so he gathered that she just used the soap that was there. By the time Natasha had finished, Clint was done too, though the redhead had to teach him how to turn off the shower, while Tony and Steve had finally compromised on a sponge bath of sorts.

Bathing Wanda didn't take very long because there wasn't much to be cleaned and she didn't like the water. Tony managed to get her dry and in a pull-up before he handed her off to Sam, _that child was a godsend,_ so he could check on Bucky.

Tony knocked gently on the door, and hearing the shower still running, he knocked a bit louder. When he got no response, Tony called out, informing Bucky that he was coming in. What he found was the 9 year old slumped against the shower wall, crying. "What's wrong, bud?" Tony asked, crouching beside him; the inventor was already wet from bathing Wanda, so he didn't mind the bit of shower spray that hit him.

"Can't do it," Bucky said miserably, "I only have one arm."

Tony nodded in understanding, "don't ever feel bad about asking me for help, okay kiddo?"

Bucky sniffled and nodded, indicating that he needed help with the shampoo that he'd pulled out of the box without the inventor's knowledge. Once he finished washing the kid's hair, Tony helped him rinse off and step out; he was still crying a bit and was unsteady on his feet.

Offering the boy a towel, Tony couldn't help but smile when Bucky came forward but instead of taking the towel and backing off, he wrapped it around himself with the inventor's arms still attached so the 9 year old was pressed against Tony's chest. Giving him a tight hug, he left Bucky to get dressed after being assured that the kid could do it on his own.

Tony had finished getting Wanda dressed by the time Bucky came out, and soon, all the kids were standing before him, fresh and clean. Natasha was wearing a knee length black ruffled skirt and a fitted Black Widow shirt, while Steve had tucked his patterned short sleeve button down into kaki shorts. Clint was wearing a t shirt that had a rather intricate arrow design on the the front, paired with jeans and almost-too-small socks that he had clearly taken from Steve's selection. Tony didn't bother commenting on it.

Sam was wearing a Captain America t shirt and dark gray pants, and Bucky was wearing a red long sleeve shirt with tan pants. He had given up on trying to button up the front and wouldn't let Tony help him. One sleeve of his shirt hung dejectedly limp while the one occupied by an arm hugged his middle.

After much struggling Tony managed to get Wanda into a pale yellow dress with red jacket. He was tempted to have another photo op, but he refrained.

Tony went to the box of things he had ordered, tossing a comb at Bucky, who caught it, and asking him to help Steve as well. Clint's hair was short enough that no combing or brushing was needed, as was Sam's, but both of the girls needed some help.

Pulling out some hair ties and a brush, Tony sat on the couch, trapping Wanda between his knees. The little girl squirmed as he tried to brush her hair, but he was pretty sure that he wasn't doing something wrong. As quickly as possible, he pulled her hair into pigtails, tied with bands that had synthetic flowers sewn on. Wanda seemed to like the way she looked and Tony let her run off with a handheld mirror.

He found Natasha waiting patiently for him and she made brushing her hair quite easy, once he got the tangles out. However, when he tried to pull her hair back in a ponytail, she started to fuss, insisting that it be braided. _Why couldn't anything be easy?_ Tony sighed but resolved to try; if he could build an arc reactor in a cave in Afghanistan, he could figure out how to do a simple braid.

Pulling out his phone, he searched for braiding tutorials. Eventually he found a simple one and achieved remarkable success in mimicking it. It helped that he had seen Pepper braid her hair countless times while they were together.

During his search for a tutorial, he saw several fancier more intricate braids that he resolved to try later if Natasha would let him. The little girl seemed pretty happy with his work, but just as he finished, Tony heard crying from the other room. It turned out to be Wanda, and from the little he could understand, she was sad that her mom and Pietro couldn't see her new hair ties. Tony did his best to console her, promising to take a picture that she could show her family. He had no idea if she understood, but eventually she did calm down and let him pick her up.

When he got back into the room with all the kids, Tony discovered that Bucky had no idea how to comb his own hair, though he had done a reasonable job with Steve's. The inventor quickly fixed the older boy's hair, and subsequently realized that he had no idea what he was going to be doing with the kids that day. He had work to do, no babysitter, and no plan. Well, that wasn't quite true, he had an endless list of plans and scenarios running through his head, but none of them seemed feasible at the moment. Suddenly, the doorbell rang, and every head in the room turned toward the sound.

Steve tried to run and answer, but Bucky stopped him, remembering that Tony had told then not to answer the door without him present. When Tony finally made it to the door, there was no one there, just two boxes labeled with the SI logo, sitting on the porch. Excitedly grabbing the two packages, everyone moved back into the living room.

Setting the kids up to play and specifically instructing Natasha to avoid theft and violence, Tony led Clint into the kitchen. He could see the boy was scared at first and then confused when he saw what was in the box.

Tony had to admit the devices he had designed didn't look like traditional hearing aids, but they would work so much better. He had Clint take out his hearing aids and a moment later, the new ones were in place. They were so small and discreet that you couldn't see them unless you knew what to look for.

After explaining how they worked and all the special features, Tony tucked the spare set into his pocket. Clint thanked him profusely, even going so far as to offer a quick hug. The inventor was a little suspicious, but chose to take it as a sign that he was doing something right, a small yet significant victory.

Next, Tony called Bucky in so he could attach the new arm. He was aware that it was far from perfect, but after the period of de-aging was over the arm would only be useful as a prototype. He had designed it to fit over the small stump and it had a touchpad-like surface on the inside that utilized the tiniest changes in the nerve endings on the stump. Bucky wouldn't be able to actually feel with the arm, that would have required surgery, but it was better than nothing.

When the arm was attached, Tony turned to Bucky, "what do you think, kid?" he asked.

"I can move it!" Bucky said excitedly, tapping metal fingers against the table, "it looks like I'm made of metal. That's strange but I like it!"

Tony smiled, "I'm glad you like it. How does it feel?"

"My shoulder tingles, it's strange."

"Okay," Tony nodded as they joined the others, "we can tweak it later, but I think it's supposed to be like that."

Natasha had disappeared, as had the contents of Tony's left pants pocket. Immediately he looked over to Clint who was holding the spare hearing aids in one hand while he tried to unlock Tony's phone with the other.

"You're good," Tony said admiringly as he plucked the phone and hearing aids from Clint's hands, "but I'm keeping these for right now."

The kid looked like he was waiting for punishment, not understanding why the inventor had yet to yell or hit him. Not doing either, Tony sat on the couch with Bucky, who actually wanted to know about the mechanical workings of the arm. Tony was so excited to talk about science with the kid, that he almost didn't notice Sam looking at them jealously.

Realizing that he hadn't given the oldest child much attention at all, Tony wrapped up the conversation with Bucky, promising to continue it later. Moving over to Sam, the inventor struggled with how to approach the situation. “What's up, bud?” he asked.

“Nuthin,” was the quiet answer.

“Is that why you've been reading all the time?” Tony probed, “cause of all that nothing?”

“If you're quiet and look busy, you don't get picked on as much.”

“I see,” the inventor remembered that he had done the same thing often, however he'd still gotten bullied viciously; then again, he had been at an all-boys boarding school, not a Harlem public school.

“If you don't want to play with the others, I understand, but I hope you come to me with any problems or if you just want to talk.”

At that moment, Tony's phone began to ring, "Tony Stark," he answered, quickly adding, "I'm busy, what do you want?"

The familiar voice at the other end of the line chuckled, "I heard about your situation, and I'm sending help."

"I've got it handled," Tony began, but whatever he was planning to say next was pushed aside by an urgent, "Wanda take that out of your mouth."

The little girl was sitting next to Steve, chewing on a colored pencil. Either she didn't understand or wasn't listening, because Tony had to pluck the pencil from her mouth before returning to his conversation. "So how is the arm?" he asked, "Do you like the new upgrades?"

"It's working like a dream," was the response, "On a separate note, we need to talk about what happened between you and Steve and everyone else."

"Yeah Agent," Tony laughed bitterly, "I really don't need your hero worship crush thing getting in the middle of this. Enough people have told me that I'm the a-hole in this situation. As if I'm not always."

The man on the other end snorted, "censoring our language now are we, Tony?"

The inventor took on a mock serious tone, "Around the kiddies, always."

The comment was ignored, and the other man continued, "I kicked that hero worship a long time ago. You were right, Tony, I didn't realize how far Steve's head was up his ass. I was told he didn't even look over the amendments before saying no."

"It's complicated, Agent," Tony replied.

Before he could say more, the other man was talking again, "I'm personally ashamed by Clint's behavior, and well Natasha is... Natasha. As for the others, I don't know much about them, but we should get together for beers."

“I'm not drinking anymore,” Tony said, offhandedly.

“That's fantastic!”

Tony nodded before remembering that it was a phone call not a video chat, "Steve, if that marker goes near the wall again, I'm taking it away!"

He reprimanded the little boy who promptly ceased choosing a marker with which to draw on the wall, and Tony returned his attention to the phone, "I'm a little busy," he said, "our reunion will have to wait until they're back to being adults that hate me."

"Understood," said the voice at the other end of the call, "I'm sending someone over. He should be there in 20 minutes. Go easy on him, he's a good guy but a little awkward and well... You'll see. You can trust him. His name is Leo Fitz; his partner is on a solo mission and we needed him out of the lab. He was driving everyone here nuts."

"Good to know," Tony replied, "Talk soon," and with that the phone call was over.

Natasha had returned from an unknown location with her hair falling out of the braid and was playing darts while Clint, who had been quite protective of the toy, was flipping through a picture book, studying each image carefully.

Bucky was still figuring out his new arm while Steve attempted to draw a picture of it. Sam was watching TV, amazed at how clear the images were and Wanda was lining up Lego pieces on the coffee table.

The second he sat down on the couch, Natasha came over with the hair brush, "Mr. Tony, can you do one of the fancy braids this time?" she asked.

"What do we say?" Tony prompted.

He had never been one for pleasantries, but from observation, he'd learned that caretaker/guardian figures were supposed to teach kids the magic words. He'd mastered them very early on; Maria Stark did not tolerate poor manners.

When he got the appropriate "please," followed by a quiet, “sir,” Tony pulled up a video he had scrolled by before and set about braiding Natasha's hair again.

This time, he got her to sit still until he had finished the version of a French braid he had chosen. It started with a braid on either side and then they were woven together to make 3 braids which were then braided together. When it was complete, Tony couldn't help snapping a picture and texting it to Pepper with the caption "mad skillz."

He had momentarily forgotten that she hadn't interacted with him beyond what was required for SI since they broke up. Natasha seemed to be pleased with his work. “Thank you,” she said before going back to darts.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments are lovely,  
> kudos are great,  
> tell me your thoughts,  
> and I will update.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fitz arrives and we hear briefly from some other old friends.

It wasn't long before the doorbell rang again, and when he answered, Tony found a curly haired scientist on the other side. "Leo Fitz," he introduced himself, "it's um... It's a... pleasure to meet you, sir. Dr. Stark... Or is it Mr. Stark? Do you have a PhD? Sorry that's none of my business... I mean you're _the_ Tony Stark, I mean..."

Tony could see what Agent had meant by awkward, "call me Tony," he replied, guiding the man in, "thank you for coming, Dr. Fitz."

"Just Fitz, really, Fitz is fine," was the stuttered response.

Bringing him into the living room, Tony introduced the other scientist to the kids, "Children this is Dr. Leopold Fitz. Fitz, these are the kids."

The inventor took a breath, "Bucky, he's 9, down one arm, Sam is 12, Wanda is 2.5, no English. That's Clint, he's 7, Natasha is 5, and last but not least Steve is 6, asthma and a weak heart," Tony said pointing at each kid as he said their name.

"So who wants to play a game?" Fitz asked.

The kids looked to the inventor for permission which was given. Eventually, the group split in two, Steve, Bucky, Sam and Natasha with Fitz, and Clint and Wanda with Tony. Though the young Scottish scientist was about as unthreatening as adult males got, Clint was still somewhat afraid of him. Tony had wanted to get some work done, and he'd been hoping, in vain, that all the kids would go with Fitz. Instead, Clint sat by Tony on the couch as the two read a book together as Wanda scribbled on paper with crayons.

Clint was very cautious when presenting the book, and it had been up to the inventor to figure out that he wanted to be read to. It turned out, for a 7 year old, he was a poor reader, and Tony was determined to remedy the situation even if it was just for the de aging period. As a child, he had been a veracious reader, partly by necessity, partly by genuine interest.

Just then, his phone rang and a holographic video was projected from where the device sat on the table. Tony hadn't forgotten about his biweekly chat with Bruce Banner who was still hiding in South America, but he had his hands quite full with the kids and hadn't gotten around to calling.

Instructing Clint to keep reading on his own and looking at the pictures, Tony accepted the call, "Brucie!" he greeted the man excitedly, always happy to hear from his science bro.

"Hey Tony," Bruce smiled, "I was worried when you didn't call. How are you?"

"I guess you don't get the news down in backwater Guatemala." Tony joked, "Just kidding, it wasn't in the news. Team Cap as well as Nat and Viz got de aged by an angry witch."

Bruce's eyes widened. "Explain," he commanded.

"Well, remember what I told you about Lagos?"

Nod.

"And Kind T'challa?"

Nod.

"Well, the King decided to shelter Rogers and Co. after the Raft and Siberia and all that, but a woman whose only family was killed in Lagos found them while Nat and Viz were there visiting. Apparently she was a witch of some kind or something and she cursed them back to their weakest points for about a month. Something about how the people in the building that got blown up were helpless and the supposed heroes should feel that too. King T'challa didn't know what to do, so he called me, and I brought them all back to the States."

"So they're all different ages then? What about Vision?" Bruce didn't seem particularly worried, he'd never been close with the android.

"Vision seems to have been de aged out of existence. I'm not sure if he will be back when the curse ends. As for the kids, Natasha is 5, I think the red room had had her for about a year at this point, Bucky is 9, but still down one arm, Steve is 6 and serum free, Sam is 12, I think his last family member had recently died or something, Clint here is 7, just out of several bad foster homes, and Wanda is 2.5. I think the curse was directed at her and hitting the others was an accident."

"Wow," Bruce tried to process the new information, "how are you okay with this? After what they did to you?"

"These kids didn't do anything, their adult versions did. They're helpless and vulnerable, I'm not going to put them out and let people who want revenge get hold of them."

Bruce took a moment to think about what the inventor had said. He decided to leave the topic alone. "So what about the witch who did this? What will happen to her?" Bruce asked.

Tony shrugged, "I guess when they are all back to being adults that hate me, I'll find her and help her get some control. Maybe teach her better ways to work through grief. Obviously someone else would do that last part."

The hologram of Bruce flickered a bit, his connection was anything but stable, "What are you going to do? Get her a lawyer?"

"Why would she need a lawyer?" Tony asked, completely serious, "she didn't actually do anything wrong, legally speaking. No one was hurt, they will be back to themselves in a month. The only exception is Vision except that he doesn't fit into categories of human, animal, or property, so there is nothing to prosecute. Plus it didn't even happen in the U.S."

"I suppose you're right," Bruce acknowledged, hearing knocking on the door behind him, "I've got to go, we'll talk science later."

When the hologram disappeared Tony found Clint staring up at him, "What's up, kid?" he asked.

“You're not a real foster dad, are you?”

“Not exactly, but for right now, I'm functioning as one. Sort of.”

Seeming to accept the de-aging scenario, the child bit his lip in thought before looking at Tony again.

"Did adult me do something bad?" Clint wore an unidentifiable and yet pitiful expression, "what did we do to you?"

Tony cringed, he had forgotten Clint could hear what he and Bruce were saying. "It's a long story kiddo, the short version is that adult you did some really illegal things and got caught and was sent to jail, and when I visited you there, you said some mean things and blamed me for you being in jail."

"That guy in the video said that we hurt you. Why did I do that?" the child asked him.

"You thought it was right. You didn't have all the information, but you didn't care to find out the facts before acting," the inventor immediately regretted letting his anger influence his words.

"I'm sorry," Clint said.

"Don't be sorry," Tony ruffled the kid's hair, "it wasn't you, it was the adult version of you."

The little boy shrugged, "I still sorry that adult me was stupid and mean. What about the others? What did they do?"

Tony sighed, "I thought one thing, and Steve and Bucky thought different. They broke a lot of laws and hurt a lot of people."

"I was on their side?"

"Yes, you, Wanda and Sam sided with Steve and Bucky."

Clint's expression changed to one of sadness, "why did I do that? Are you going to punish me?"

Tony shut his eyes before replying, "You did what you thought was right, kiddo. Don't think about it too much, okay? And no, I'm not going to punish you. I don't want to do that ever."

"Is that why you like Natasha best?" Clint asked, "because she was on your side."

"What made you think that I like her best?" Tony asked.

Clint didn't reply, but he went back to looking a the picture book. Hoping that he wouldn't have to have that conversation with any of the others, Tony figured it was as good a time as any to take care of SI business and talk to Rhodey.

First, he called his best friend to inform him of the situation. He opened the call with, "congratulations, you're an uncle."

Rhodey, recognizing the actual possibility that Tony could have a kid from a past one night stand, took a deep breath, "how old?" he asked.

The inventor allowed some humor into his voice; he didn't want his friend to get too freaked out. "4 boys, ages 12, 9, 7, and 6, 2 girls, ages 5 and 2.5," he said.

"You'd better be joking," Rhodey said.

Tony laughed nervously, "Sorta. It seems an angry witch de aged the prodigal son, the little spider, no elf ears Legalos, the little birdy sidekick, the neighborhood cyborg, Capsicle, and little miss I won't take responsibility for my actions. It's only for about a month and then they'll go back to hating me."

"Wow," Rhodey took in the information, "that's just... Wow."

"I'll explain it all later, I just wanted to let you know what's going on and why I might not be able to visit for a while. How's your recovery going?"

Tony said it all in one breath and only stopped because Rhodey interrupted him. "I'm doing fine, Tones, the surgery was genius and physical therapy is helping," his friend said.

"Of course it was genius, I was directly involved," Tony had always been quick to cover up worries and insecurities.

Soon after that, the call ended and the inventor looked down to find Wanda tugging on his pant leg asking for food, at least that's what he thought she wanted, she was rubbing her belly.

As it turned out, the group playing games with Fitz was hungry too and so Tony went about making lunch. Grilled cheese sandwiches and strawberries seemed simple enough, until Tony had made the 8th meal, and those who had already eaten were asking for more.

By the end of lunchtime, Bucky, who finally understood that the great depression was over, had inhaled 3 sandwiches and an entire bowl of strawberries. Sam had eaten about the same amount as his metal armed comrade, while Steve, and Clint had each only eaten 1 sandwich and 5 or 6 strawberries.

Natasha ate about ¾ of a sandwhich, and 4 strawberries, but at least she was eating. Wanda, who didn't recognize the food, wouldn't eat it even when it was cut into small bites. Tony ended up feeding her mashed potatoes and apple sauce. Fitz was the only person who expressed appreciation for the inventor's culinary expertise, but given that he wasn't expecting anything, it was a nice surprise.

The two adults started talking science and were quite enjoying it, but soon the kids interrupted. After lunch it seemed like nearly everybody was ready for a nap, Sam, Bucky, and Fitz being the exceptions. Tony decided to let them science with whatever they could find in the garage and the kitchen, instructing each of them to keep the others alive.

Wanda was the first to go down, she wasn't asleep, but she seemed to be fine with babbling to herself. Steve went by himself, Tony wasn't even surprised when he curled up in Bucky's bed.

Somehow, Clint had heard about Natasha sleeping in Tony's bed, and insisted that he would too. Given the child's past and his relative skittishness, the inventor suspected that Clint thought the situation was anything but innocent and was determined to take the younger kid's place.

Tony didn't have the strength to argue, so he just let Clint climb up to settle on the other side of him, as far as possible from Natasha. He may have gallantly offered to stand between the younger child and any threat, but the two still did not get along well.

Both children were asleep moments later, and the inventor was getting there himself when his door was pushed open. Wanda toddled in, and she too tried to climb into Tony's bed. Being so small, she couldn't quite pull herself up, so Tony reached over, lifting her onto his chest because his lap was occupied by Natasha and Clint's heads.

He was barely surprised when Steve came in. “Don't wanna be 'lone,” he justified, climbing up onto the bed.

Nearly an hour had passed by the time Sam, Bucky, and Fitz came in. Quickly, the 3 made newspaper hats for the boys, and braided paper crowns for the girls. Sam and Bucky posed with one finger over their lips, aiming the newly made nerf guns at the pile of sleepers like they were sneaking up on them, and Fitz snapped a picture for his boss.

The noise of the camera woke up Tony and he shook the others awake except for Wanda who he could carry. Seeing the improbably built nerf gun, he laughed, "I see you 3 have made a productive use of your time."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments are lovely,  
> kudos are great,  
> tell me your thoughts,  
> and I will update.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cookies!

Together, they decided the next activity would be cookie baking. Tony was still holding Wanda and needed to catch up on work, so he sat at the table with the little girl napping in his lap, messing around with holograms projected out of his phone while the others got around to baking.

They hadn't bought a mix at the grocery store, so the cookies would be made from scratch and a mess was inevitable. With Tony's direction, Fitz retrieved old t-shirts for the kids to use as smocks. By the time the cookies had made it into the oven, the spare shirts were covered in a variety of ingredients.

Steve had spilled flour on himself and when he'd started crying, Bucky had hugged him so the boy would feel better, resulting in the flour covering both of them. Clint was feeling bad about cracking one of the eggs so hard that it spilled over his hands and to avoid getting caught, wiped his hands on his shirt. Sam was wearing melted chocolate, though Tony was sure no part of the recipe required melting chocolate, while Natasha remained immaculate. Tony frowned a little at that; it seemed like she still hadn't relaxed completely, not that he blamed her.

The kids may have been messy, but the kitchen was worse. Beyond the dishes piled high in the sink, leftover ingredients were scattered, dirty utensils were haphazardly strewn across the counter, and the mid cookie making clean up attempt had gone horribly wrong, leaving crumbs and smudges everywhere, even the ceiling.

Wanda was awake by then, and Tony asked Fitz to oversee a bathroom trip while the inventor managed cleanup. Clint and Steve were put in charge of wiping down the counters, Natasha collected utensils, Sam was given a broom, and Bucky was tasked with returning ingredients to the proper locations. Tony himself took on the responsibility of rinsing the dishes and utensils before loading then into the dishwasher.

Getting Steve and Clint to work together was a bit of a challenge; the two fought over everything from who worked faster to who cleaned which space. Natasha didn't cause any problems, but Sam had clearly never used a broom before, and eventually gave up, sitting at the table and pouting rather adorably. Bucky had no idea where anything went, but he did try his best. Tony imagined that next time anyone attempted baking would find difficulty locating ingredients.

When the kitchen was reasonably clean and Fitz had returned with Wanda, it was almost time to take out the cookies. Knowing the kids would want to touch and eat immediately, Tony sent everyone to the living room so he wouldn't have to deal with burns.

After getting the cookies on racks to cool, the inventor swept the kitchen floor and gathered the messy smock-shirts to put in his ever growing pile of laundry. Hoping for the best, Tony entered the living room. To his surprise, Steve was playing nicely with Wanda while Clint and Natasha drew pictures. Sam was reading again, and Bucky was listening to Fitz explain light bulbs and electricity.

Before making his presence known, Tony couldn't help but snap a picture of Steve with Wanda and another of Clint with Natasha. Both pictures were immediately texted to a fair number of people, including Happy, Rhodey, T'challa, and Nick Fury, who still hadn't been able to keep the genius from getting his number.

Announcing that the cookies were ready sent everyone scrambling for the kitchen. Tony didn't bother trying to tell them to save the cookies for dessert, it was too late anyway. He invited Fitz to stay for dinner which caused the other man to realize he'd stayed longer than planned, decline the offer, and say goodbye to the kids, before leaving.

* * *

Not wanting to dirty the kitchen again, Tony decided to take the kids out to a fairly nearby diner. The staff at the restaurant was very understanding, helping him seat himself and the 6 kids and providing children's menus with crayons.

Steve was fascinated by being allowed to draw in a restaurant, while Clint solved the maze on the placemat before moving on to struggle with the word search and other activities. Wanda tried to nibble on the crayon she could reach, which nearly set Bucky off, it was Steve's crayon, but he remembered what Tony had said about being kind to the little girl and not being a bully. Natasha ignored both placemat and crayons in favor of studying the restaurant itself, and Sam made a fuss about being treated like a child, even though he was one. Tony bit his tongue.

By the time they got back it was past time for Wanda to go to bed and even Natasha was looking sleepy. After overseeing tooth brushing and passing out spare pajamas to those who needed them, each kid was sent to their room with the option to sleep or stay up for a bit with a book or other activity.

Steve requested another story, asking about Edward from Tony's previous one, but not feeling up to it, the inventor opted for a lullaby of sorts. He had been told that his voice was quite good, so he hoped the kids would be satisfied. Tony didn't actually know any lullabies, at least not off the top of his head, so instead, he racked his brain for any song he knew that could serve as a substitute. AC/DC was out of the question, so he settled on Billy Joel.

 _It's nine o'clock on a Saturday_  
_The regular crowd shuffles in_  
_There's an old man sitting next to me_  
_Making love to his tonic and gin..._

Steve pulled the covers more tightly around himself, looking up at Tony. Bucky too was paying attention. The inventor continued.

 _He says, “Son, can you play me a memory_  
I'm not really sure how it goes  
But it's sad and it's sweet and I knew it complete  
When I wore a younger man's clothes...”

Bucky frowned, “I don't understand,” he started to say.

Tony shook his head, putting one finger to his lips, and humming a bit before beginning the chorus.

 _Sing us a song, you're the piano man_ _  
_ _Sing us a song tonight_ _  
_ _Well, we're all in the mood for a melody_ _  
_ _And you've got us feelin' alright..._

Tony took a deep breath. He had always loved this song.

 _Now John at the bar is a friend of mine_  
He gets me my drinks for free  
And he's quick with a joke or to light up your smoke  
But there's someplace that he'd rather be...

“This sounds sad,” Steve complained.

Tony nodded, humming some more.

 _He says, "Bill, I believe this is killing me."_  
As a smile ran away from his face  
"Well, I'm sure that I could be a movie star  
If I could get out of this place..." 

Bucky's eyes were beginning to drift shut.

 _Now Paul is a real estate novelist_  
Who never had time for a wife  
And he's talking with Davy, who's still in the Navy  
And probably will be for life...

 _And the waitress is practicing politics_  
_As the businessmen slowly get stoned_  
_Yes they're sharing a drink they call loneliness_  
_But it's better than drinking alone..._

Seeing that Steve was nearly asleep, Tony decided to end with a chorus instead of finishing the complete song.

 _Sing us a song you're the piano man_  
_Sing us a song tonight_  
_Well we're all in the mood for a melody_  
_And you've got us feeling alright..._

After the last note left his lips, Tony sat still for a while, watching the boys sleep peacefully. Eventually, he got up, remembering the child waiting patiently for him in his room.

When he arrived, she climbed under the covers, and closed her eyes. After dealing with the kids being hyper from the cookies, Tony still wanted to work, but knew that Natasha needed her sleep and wouldn't get it if he wasn't there.

Quickly, he checked on Clint, Sam, and Wanda, finding all but Sam, nearing sleep. The 12 year old was told that he should be turning off the light within the hour.

Once Tony had changed and completed his ablutions, he lay down beside Natasha. She wasn't asleep, confirming his theory, and when he settled in, Tony felt her hand on his chest and saw the whites of her eyes. "I think I understand now," she told him.

"Understand what?" he asked.

"You aren't Red Room and so, until you send me back, I'm allowed to be like a regular kid," she explained.

"That sounds about right," Tony mumbled, feeling a twinge of guilt that he wasn't fully listening; the numbers in his head were tired of being ignored.

He thought about her words for a second before amending his statement, "I wouldn't send you back there if I had another choice. I hope you know that, sweetheart."

Tony held Natasha more tightly to his chest, still only giving her half his attention, "if it were up to me, I'd keep you and raise you myself and spoil you rotten while I was at it."

"That sounds nice," the little redhead sighed, "would you let me keep taking ballet classes?"

Tony smiled into the dark, "I would make sure you had the very best teachers," he said, "and I would come to as many performances and recitals as I could."

After a solid minute of imagining what her life could be, Natasha pushed up on her elbows, "Clint told me about the de-aging thing and how we were all fighting before it happened. He said I was on your side."

Tony was completely focused on her by that point, "you were on my side at the beginning, but then you joined them."

Before he could finish what he was saying Natasha interrupted, "I asked the machine in your office. It said that the adult versions of us were superheroes. If that's true, shouldn't we have been fighting bad guys not each other?"

Tony took a moment to decide how to answer. "Sometimes when you fight bad guys, innocent people get hurt and buildings get destroyed. I thought that we should accept limitations and not help people who didn't want our help."

"And everybody disagreed?" Natasha asked. Tony shook his head though he knew she couldn't see it.

"Steve didn't agree, but we ended up fighting because of something else."

The inventor felt something move on his other side just as he heard Clint's voice, "what was the something else?" he asked.

"When did you get here?" Tony asked, not wanting to answer the question because he couldn't find a way to do so that didn't reflect too badly on Steve and his devotion to Bucky.

"I've been here since Natasha said that adult us were superheroes," the boy replied, "Can I stay?"

Tony didn't want an argument, so he agreed. After several minutes of silence, he felt and heard Natasha fall asleep, but the young archer was fidgeting as if he was trying to stay awake. "I think you're the best parent I've had yet," the little boy mused.

"What do you mean?" Tony asked, not really sure he wanted the answer, but figuring that allowing Clint to unburden himself might help the kid.

"My first dad yelled a lot," Clint replied, "and my foster parents took away food and locked me in the cabinet and stuff."

Tony took in the new information as the boy continued talking, "you've been really nice to me," he said, "you've given me things and helped me hear and stuff. And you haven't threatened to send me back yet."

The inventor really wanted to talk about anything else, but it seemed like an important conversation. "I won't send you back if I don't have to," he promised, "I'll be here to take care of you as long as I can."

Tony felt Clint snuggle into his shoulder, and soon the kid was asleep, leaving the inventor with his thoughts.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments are lovely,  
> kudos are great,  
> tell me your thoughts,  
> and I will update.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> To the park!

Tony woke to distinctly more than three people in his bed. Natasha was on his left side, Clint on his right, and Wanda was sprawled across his stomach and chest. Steve lay across the end of the bed, Bucky was curled up in an armchair, and Sam was sitting with his back against the side, open book in his lap, drooling on the mattress.

Tony's chuckling woke Wanda and she accidentally kicked Clint awake, and one by one the rest of the kids woke up. The inventor didn't feel like forcing bath time, so he settled for brushing and tying back Wanda and Natasha's hair before herding the kids back to their respective rooms to get dressed.

Letting them choose their own outfits was not as disastrous a decision as Tony had predicted. After much deliberation, Wanda ended up in a grey dress and purple leggings. Natasha chose a black shirt with the white silhouette of a ballerina, and dark red pants.

Clint had trouble choosing, but eventually Tony coaxed him into tan pants and temporarily gave up on a shirt. Bucky wore all black because he thought it matched his silver colored arm, and Steve stuck with a brown short sleeve polo tucked into kakis. Sam didn't make a fuss, rather he grabbed the closest outfit which happened to be a yellow t shirt and grey pants.

Cereal and milk turned out to be a neater breakfast option than pancakes, which Tony was thankful for, but there was still a fair amount of cleanup afterwards. Milk had somehow ended up on floor, table, wall, and ceiling, and juice was running down two different chair legs.

Wiping different faces with each hand, Tony managed to get all the kids relatively clean and out of the kitchen area so he could put everything away and drink some much needed coffee. Sleep hadn't been forthcoming the night before, and the inventor had only managed about 3 hours in total, not simultaneously.

When Tony had fixed up the kitchen and downed a second large mug of black coffee, he moved towards the living room, hoping that all the kids would be there. It struck him that he was probably not the best caretaker, what with him not knowing the exact location of each child, but he figured that being with him was better than being in foster care.

Entering the room, Tony made a note to get involved in the screening for foster homes when the month was up, either financially or technologically. At least he knew that Clint, Natasha, and Sam were in better places now than their child selves would go back to.

Clint, he knew, had at least one more abusive home before being taken in by carnies, who weren't all that kind to him either, Natasha had several years with the red room and even more with the KGB before Clint was sent to kill her, and Sam was an orphaned black kid from Harlem, so his chances weren't great either.

Tony was pulled out of his thoughts by Wanda tapping on his leg. It turned out, the kids were all there, waiting for him. "What is it?" he asked suspiciously.

"What are we doing today?" Bucky asked for all of them.

Tony thought for a minute, "what do you want to do," he countered.

All the kids started talking at once. Clint suggested going to the park and looked a little scared once he realized he'd actually requested something, Wanda said something unintelligible, and Natasha wanted to go see a ballet. Steve suggested a museum, Bucky the zoo, and Sam thought a bookstore would be best. The inventor smiled, "how about we go to the park," he suggested, "and stop by a bookstore and an ice cream parlor on the way back."

When three little faces fell, Tony amended, "we can go to the ballet and a museum and the zoo another day."

He sent all the kids to find socks and shoes, or in Clint's case, socks, shoes, and a shirt, and he went to get himself dressed. Once he was clothed, Tony tried to make a list of what he would need to bring.

It was unlikely that coats would be needed and rain wasn't predicted for several days, but Tony put a collapsable umbrella and 2 tightly folded kid sized jackets in his backpack anyway. Wallet and keys were in his pocket and the prototype that acted as his phone was already clipped to his ear, but just in case, Tony put an actual cellphone in the bag. Steve's inhaler and Clint's backup hearing aids got pockets to themselves, as did the programmable skin-like coating that could be applied to Bucky's arm should the child feel self conscious.

He nearly forgot to pack emergency diapering supplies for Wanda, but he remembered when she toddled into the kitchen where he was packing and asked for help in the bathroom. At least, Tony assumed that was what she wanted because she took his hand and pulled him towards the bathroom.

When Wanda was finished there, he took her back to the living room so he could finish packing. Antiseptic wipes, first aid cream, and band aids, he always had on his person, but Tony felt like a complete (read: EMT grade) kit would be a good idea for the outing. Luckily, he had made miniaturized medical kits for Bruce so they would be less obvious and make the doctor less of a target for thieves, so he easily fit it in the bag.

Duck tape was always a good idea, so Tony added it, and so was a basic tool kit, but he couldn't think of a reason he would need it. Still, the mechanic couldn't help tucking a small screwdriver and a wrench into his bag.

As the kids began to gather, shoes on, ready to go, Tony wondered if he needed to bring snacks. Surely he could buy food for the kids while they were out, but he figured it wouldn't hurt to bring crackers and a few juice boxes. A last minute idea had him adding a camera prototype that he'd been meaning to send to SI, to the bag.

Exiting the house, Tony held Wanda by one hand and Natasha by the other. Steve and Bucky also held hands, Clint by himself at the front and Sam at the back. It wasn't a particularly long walk to the park, but they had to stop twice for Steve to use his inhaler and by the time they arrived Tony was carrying Wanda.

* * *

 

Immediately, Sam, Clint, and Wanda ran off towards the playground area while Natasha waited for permission. When it was given, she too ran off, leaving only Steve and Bucky with Tony.

The inventor settled himself on a bench and turned towards the boys who appeared to be arguing. It ended with Bucky walking towards the other kids, his expression a mixture of excitement and guilt. Steve plopped down beside Tony, swinging his legs idly. "Kiddo," the inventor said slowly, "why aren't you playing with the others?"

"Not allowed," the little boy answered.

"Why's that?"

"It's dirty," Steve stared at his lap, "the playground had a bunch of germs that'll make me sick."

Suddenly, Tony thought of an idea, pulling a bottle of hand sanitizer from his bag, he gave it to Steve. "Remember how I said that you're in the future?" he asked.

When the kid nodded, he continued, "we've got this stuff," he indicated the bottle, " that kills all the germs. If you put it on your hands after playing and before you touch your face, you won't get sick."

Steve seemed a bit skeptical, but when Tony offered to led him keep the bottle in his pocket to use whenever he wanted, he slid off the bench and ran to join the others.

Resisting the urge to work, Tony pulled out the camera and started taking pictures. He captured the wispy clouds against the blue sky, the swing set with kids getting off and on, and the bench occupied by two mothers opposite him. In messing around with settings, Tony found no less than 10 things he wanted to fix, as well as several ways to improve usability. He continued taking pictures of nature and the kids until Sam ran over. "I think Natasha did something bad," he said.

The inventor jumped to his feet, "what happened? Is she hurt?"

The boy didn't answer, just motioned for Tony to follow him, so grabbing the bag, he did just that. When they arrived, Natasha was standing opposite a crying boy and his angry mother. Clint having given up on trying to stand in front of the little redhead, stood to the side, biting his nails. The mother was yelling at a calm Natasha as her child, who was at least 8 years old, cried. "What happened?" Tony asked immediately, "are you hurt, honey?"

Natasha shook her head, but he didn't miss that she was biting her lip nervously. The mother turned to Tony, "Is she yours?"

Not waiting for a response, she continued, "she pushed my son off the ladder," the woman said, indication a nearby structure.

"Why did you push him?" Tony asked.

"I was at the top," Natasha answered, "he pulled my pants down."

Laying a comforting hand on her shoulder, Tony turned to the mother, "teach your kid some manners," he said angrily.

When the woman tried to respond, he immediately cut her off, "No. He is at least three years older than her. She had a right to defend herself."

The mother sensed that she had lost, so she huffed in annoyance, but steered her son away. Tony looked around to find all the kids. Steve was drawing in the dirt with a stick, Bucky was playing with Wanda in the sand pit, and Clint was still biting his nails. "Is everyone okay to be here for a while longer?" Tony asked.

Clint and Sam both nodded and ran off to do whatever they had been doing before. Natasha looked up at the inventor, "can I stay with you for a bit?" she asked.

Tony agreed, and held her hand all the way back to the bench. When they had sat down, she looked up at him again, "I'm sorry."

"It's okay, sweety," he told her, "as long as someone else hits first, you are allowed to hit back."

"But, try not to hurt anyone. No one here was trained like you," he added as an afterthought.

She nodded before pointing to the camera in his hand, "what's that?" she asked.

"It's a camera," he said.

"It doesn't look like a camera," she replied skeptically.

Tony laughed, "here," he said, handing it over, "try it. You look through here and press this button."

He looked on in amusement as Natasha pointed the camera at different things, taking pictures.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments are lovely,  
> kudos are great,  
> tell me your thoughts,  
> and I will update.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ice Cream and Books!

They hadn't been at the park for more than 30 minutes when Bucky brought Wanda over. "She wanted you," he explained, dropping the child in Tony's lap.

Immediately, she started pulling on anything she could reach, wanting attention. Ignoring her for a moment, the inventor nodded at the older kid, "do you want this?" he asked the boy, taking the programmable coating from his bag.

"No, thank you," Bucky said politely, running off.

Once he was paying attention to her, Wanda seemed pretty content. Apparently, she had figured out his name, though she pronounced it more like “tawney” than “tony.” Not really knowing what to do, Tony sat her in his lap, pointing at different things and identifying each. When Wanda said the word in her language, it sounded a lot like Russian but he couldn't be sure, Tony would say the English word.

Eventually, Natasha gave him back the camera and took Wanda to the swings. Over the next hour, there were no major catastrophes and Tony managed to get good pictures of each kid. Sam shooting hoops by himself, Wanda exiting the slide, Bucky helping Steve on the monkey bars, Natasha and Clint climbing up to the top of the highest structure.

Sam was the first to declare his hunger, but Bucky wasn't far behind, and Wanda had begun to rub her stomach pointedly. Tony figured it was time for lunch and the ice cream he had promised them that morning.

* * *

 

A nearby cafe made choosing lunch foods fairly easy for the kids, but Clint refused to choose anything so the inventor had to order for him. Getting the kid to make choices was quite difficult, and while Tony knew that a good parent would gently coax their child into making a decision, he just wasn't up for it. Wanda couldn't read the menu or understand the English words, so Tony decided that she would just share whatever he ordered for himself; he wasn't to big on eating entire meals.

Lunch went well afterwards, though the inventor made sure to leave a big tip to apologize for the mess that the kids inevitably made. Their next stop was the bookstore, where he agreed to get two books for each child. He would have readily agreed to a higher limit, but Clint would have a hard enough time choosing anything, and they still had to walk all the way back.

The minute they were through the door, Sam took off for the comic books, Steve and Bucky ran off to find chapter books and picture books, and the others looked expectantly up at Tony. Directing Clint towards the age appropriate books, Tony took Wanda and Natasha to the foreign language section.

The little redhead had a bit trouble choosing the books she wanted; she was a little confused that Tony was allowing her to get books in Russian and with pictures. “What are normally the rules?” he asked her cautiously.

“Madame Olena says no books with pictures or in my our first languages.”

“Guess what?”

When it became clear that she wasn't going to humor him with a “what?” Tony continued. “I say that you can have books with pictures, and they can be in whatever language you want.”

His appropriation of the Red Room sentence structure made Tony feel a little dirty, but it seemed to do the trick and soon Natasha was contentedly looking through the books.

Wanda had fallen asleep on Tony's shoulder, worn out from the playground, so choosing books for her wouldn't be as easy. Then again, despite the many languages he did know, her native tongue wasn't identifiable to him. Before she had passed out, Tony had taken her to the bathroom, and was quite impressed with how well she did using the toilet. He would have to be careful with that, but he was still quite grateful that girls typically potty-trained months before boys did.

Checking on Sam, the inventor found that the boy was having difficulty choosing just 2 comic books and though he was tempted to cave and agree to get all 5, Tony didn't want the other kids to complain about it being unfair. His apology for the limit was met with a noncommittal shrug on Sam's part, but that would have to do for the moment.

Steve and Bucky returned with two books each, and Clint returned empty handed. "Couldn't find anything you liked?" Tony asked.

The kid shrugged, "I'm not too good at reading," he muttered.

The inventor thought for a second, "what if I picked out books for me to read to you?"

Clint shrugged again, but eventually nodded. The kind of compliance that the child was demonstrating had such a potential to be abused, and it terrified Tony, but he did his best to put the thought aside.

By the time they reached the checkout counter, Tony had picked out an appealingly colored wordless picture book and a compilation of translated Eastern European fairy tales for Wanda, as well as something called “Robin Hood Folklore” and a compilation of Dr. Seuss stories for Clint.

With all the books in bags, one of which was carried by Steve (read: Bucky) who didn't want to let his books out of his sight, and two of which were held by Tony in the hand that wasn't supporting Wanda, it was time for ice cream.

Realistically, the inventor should have known that trying to get flavor decisions from 6 kids at once was a bad idea; he did know that. But he was an engineer, an inventor, not a childcare specialist, and he hadn't gotten much sleep the night before. Still, Tony brought them all in and asked one by one, what they would like. He had to adjust the sizes that some of the kids requested, but he assumed that was normal and had no problem making executive decisions.

Sam decided on chocolate, but then he saw that there was double chocolate chip and changed his mind and finally settled on chocolate again. Steve and Bucky both had such a hard time making a decision, they were from a time when most of the available flavors didn't exist, that Tony chose for them, getting French vanilla for Steve and vanilla with chocolate chips for Bucky.

Wanda chose pistachio, then caramel, before finally settling on strawberry. Tony suspected that she only chose it because of the color, but she seemed to enjoy the flavor as well, so it wasn't an issue.

Natasha chose moose tracks, vanilla ice cream with little peanut butter cups, bits of chocolate fudge and something crunchy that was probably bits of a waffle cone. As each kid got their ice cream, Tony sent them over to a table by the window.

They had all been so loud that he had almost forgotten to ask Clint what he wanted because the kid wouldn't volunteer the preference. Ordering coffee oreo for himself, Tony turned to Clint, "what strikes your fancy, kiddo?"

The boy shrugged. The inventor was beginning to understand more about the archer as an adult: make no decisions, take no blame. Alternately: do as your asked and it won't be your fault. The whole following orders and not feeling guilt thing kind of freaked Tony out, but he chose to ignore it for the moment. "How about I get you the cotton candy flavor?" he asked.

Clint nodded happily and it was all settled. The kids chatted and ate their ice cream, getting it all over faces and hands, as expected.

Tony couldn't resist taking out the camera again to capture their silly expressions and sticky fingers. The one depicting Bucky with ice cream on his nose was particularly cute. He even had a stranger take some pictures of him with the kids, though he had her do it on his phone so as to avoid explaining the camera. He couldn't help texting a group picture to several people including Pepper, it was easy to forget or pretend that she wanted nothing to do with him.

Clint finished first, still in the habit of eating everything he could before it was taken away, while Steve didn't finish at all. Predictably, Bucky ate the remainder of the 6 year old's ice cream, but it started a fight between the boys.

Sam thought that they should have shared, Clint advocated for rocks paper scissors, and Bucky sat contentedly, saying "too late," in a variety of ways. Steve of course wanted to be part of the fight which caused problems when he was told to stay out of it but wouldn't back down. Tony did his best to calm the kids down, telling them that the ice cream was gone so there was no use talking about it, and that in the future, there would be a discussion, and as the adult he would choose who got the leftovers. Apart from some residual grumbling from Sam, that settled the situation.

Tony had kept the lecture very light, because while sharing was important, Sam had been the one to start the argument. The 12 year old had been withdrawn since being de-aged, the only possible exception being the time spent with Fitz, and Tony didn't want to make the child think that speaking up was wrong in any way.

Surprisingly, Natasha ate all of her ice cream before carefully wiping her face. It was the first food related thing she had finished since being de-aged, and Tony was grateful, even as he anticipated the coming sugar-high.

Eventually, everyone was ready to leave. As he used wet napkins to wipe down both children and table, Tony realized that the duration of their time at the ice cream store was the happiest he'd been in a long time.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments are lovely,  
> kudos are great,  
> tell me your thoughts,  
> and I will update.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> House Guest #7

On the way home, they cut through the park again, and the kids, hyper from all the sugar, ran off to play. Tony supposed that was better than them bouncing off the walls at home, so he didn't try to stop them. Also, there was no way he could have.

Steve was feeling queasy, so he stayed with Tony, the two sitting down together under the shade of a tree. The inventor cursed himself silently when he realized that he hadn't brought drawing supplies for the kid. He was supposed to think of these things!

Steve looked up at him expectantly. Though Tony had wanted to do a little work, he sacrificed use his phone so the kid could play around on an art app he was designing. It wasn't exactly meant for kids and the boy had never seen such technology, but Steve seemed happy enough.

The inventor took out the camera to look through the pictures he and Natasha had taken. Deciding to analyze the photos more in depth later, Tony just deleted all the fuzzy or blurry ones.

When the kids had run off the excess sugar energy, it was time to take them home. For most of the walk, Tony had to carry Wanda who was exhausted, and Sam and Bucky carried the books because Steve was too weak, Natasha refused, and Clint was already dragging his feet so the inventor didn't want to give him extra weight.

Steve only needed his inhaler once, but the group stopped several times so that he and Clint could rest. When they finally arrived, Tony considered a mandatory hand washing for everyone, but he wasn't up to dealing with the argument he would inevitably receive on the subject. Eating a little dirt helps the immune system right? Steve had to wash his hands, but the others were let off the hook. _No smart parent believes in fairness._

* * *

 

As soon as he was told that dinner was 2 hours away, Sam grabbed his new comic books from the bag and took them to his room. Letting Wanda remove her own shoes and socks and whatever else she wanted took enough time that Tony was able to get Steve and Bucky sitting quietly, reading their new books.

Natasha stood patiently, waiting for an order or suggestion of some kind, so the inventor directed her towards the drawing supplies. When asked what she should draw, Tony shrugged, "draw you dreams," he suggested.

He had once engaged Dr. Banner in a lengthy discussion about dreams and the subconscious, and he figured it couldn't hurt to see what was going on in Natasha's.

As he was about chase Wanda into her room to find clean clothing, Tony smelled something. It wasn't a pleasant scent, like dirt and matted hair and piss all rolled into one. Turning to Clint who was trying to sneak out of the room, Tony raised his eyebrows as far as they would go and cleared his throat. Sheepishly, the boy shuffled his way towards the inventor, holding the source of the smell tightly in his arms. "Can I keep him?" Clint asked, "please?"

Tony sighed, "don't go anywhere," he instructed, taking Wanda to her room.

Once there, he helped her use the toilet and got her into new clothes, finally settling her up with animal shaped blocks. Returning to find Clint in the same spot as before, Tony brought out soap and a few towels. "Hand him over," he told the little boy, setting the supplies on a table.

"Please don't hurt him," Clint begged, holding his arms more tightly around the creature.

"I'm not gonna hurt him," Tony assured the boy, taking the dirty puppy in his hands and looking him over. "Where did you find him?"

"He followed me home," Clint replied.

Tony chuckled, "you mean you carried him home."

"He followed me from the park but he was getting tired so I helped him," the boy justified, looking a bit scared, but not as much as he would have a 2 days earlier.

Tony led Clint towards one of the bathrooms, "we have to find out if he already has a family before we take him in permanently," the inventor cautioned.

"But he doesn't have a collar," Clint protested, "and he was really dirty. They don't care about him."

Tony sighed, tabling the topic temporarily. "Let's get him cleaned up," the inventor suggested.

The two of them put the puppy in the sink, and washed him with gentle soap and warm water. Tony actually did most of the washing while Clint stood watching. The dog thoroughly enjoyed the bath and when it was done, the inventor picked him up in a fluffy towel and handed him to Clint.

"Take him into the other room and play with him while I figure out if he has a family. If he does his business inside, you're cleaning it up," Tony told the kid who promptly left with the puppy.

* * *

 

The inventor moved into his office area to use the computer; in this house, even the workshop didn't have the option of holograms. Sitting before the 3 large screens, with the 5 keyboards tucked away, he sighed, "Fri, baby, where did the puppy come from?"

After a moment the AI responded. "I have found 12 possibilities," she said, bringing them up on the central screen.

Looking them over Tony nodded slowly. First, he dismissed a report of a family missing their dog, "too old."

The next few were "too far away," "wrong breed," and "wrong gender."

Eventually, he was left with two possibilities. The first was a family that lived near the bookstore they had gone to, and it said that their dog had delivered four puppies a little over 2 months earlier, that had run off when the family was trying to take them to a shelter a few towns over.

The second was a shelter/pound, Tony hated that those still existed, and it said that one of their dogs had given birth a little while before they put her down, and when they had been giving one of the puppies to a family, the others had escaped.

Neither listing had a picture of the puppies, so there was no way to be sure, but they did give the matching breed, German shepherd and terrier mix. The first one had an endnote that read "If found, feel free to adopt or bring to a shelter. Please don't return the puppies to us."

Tony thought that it was a bit callous, but he dismissed it as a call he didn't need to make, so it was ignorable. The second one asked anyone who found one of the puppies to call the shelter, but given that it was also a pound, Tony didn't feel obliged to make the phone call. "Thanks, sugarbuns," he said to the AI, stretching.

"Of course Boss," she replied with no tone whatsoever.

That worried Tony, she was usually less polite, more snarky, and far more emotive. "Friday... munchkin..." he said suspiciously, "what's wrong?"

The screens in front of him hummed a bit before the AI responded. "The project you have been working on obsessively for several months now," she began.

Tony nodded his understanding, "I'm not trying to replace you," he assured her, “I just want JARVIS back."

"I don't doubt that you will succeed, Boss," FRIDAY said slowly, "what will happen to me when you get him back?"

Tony was quick to reassure her, "I've been thinking about that Fri. I've got several ideas to run by you."

"Intriguing," she sounded a bit more like herself, "do tell."

The inventor began the list, "I've got a lot of properties, so there is the possibility of giving some to you and some to him."

The AI hummed, listing the idea on the left screen as "debatably equitable division of space and location."

Tony wanted to argue, but didn't see the point. "Another idea would be to give you all spaces/properties frequented by people not at level 1, give J my personal devices, and have you two share the most important places, for example my workshops."

That too appeared on the left hand screen. "For the moment, my third general idea is to give you both everything to share," Tony continued, "of course these potential solutions will have to become more specific as progress accelerates."

The screens glowed more brightly for a second as the third item was added to the list. "I will add ideas that I come up with," the AI informed him.

"Atta girl, Fri," Tony praised her, getting up, "I would love to stay and chat and/or work, but I've got 6 kids and now an untrained puppy to worry about. I've left them alone long enough that something has to have gone wrong."

"I would remind you to make dinner. While you may often treat meals as optional, children need them regularly in order to function properly. Or so my research indicates."

Tony smiled, he was glad he had decided to give her an Irish accent. "Thanks, honey," he said, exiting the room.

* * *

 

As it turned out, Wanda had ventured from her room into the living room, and was fighting with Steve over a book. Bucky was looking on silently; he seemed to be debating whether to intervene or just enjoy the show. That was definitely a change, and not one with which Tony was entirely unhappy.

Natasha was still drawing, and Clint was no where to be found. Tony approached Wanda and Steve, grasping the book, "both of you, let go, now!"

They did so, and Tony lifted the book onto a high shelf, "Steve, why don't you go show Wanda how to do a puzzle," he suggested handing a puzzle box to the older kid.

As the two reluctantly settled down, Bucky went back to reading, Natasha was busy, and Sam had yet to make an appearance, so Tony went to look for Clint. Eventually, he found the kid playing with the puppy in a corner of the kitchen. It appeared that he was trying to train the dog, and was having some amount of success. "Does he have a name?" the inventor asked.

"Lucky," Clint replied, "cause I was real lucky you decided to foster me."

"And I'm lucky to have you," Tony replied, running his fingers through the boy's short hair.

First letting the dog sniff and lick his fingers, the inventor scratched Lucky gently behind the ears. The puppy seemed to like that, and he moved towards Tony, cautiously. Scooping the puppy into his arms, he addressed Clint, "go put the towel in the laundry, wash your hands, and then you can go play or come help me make dinner.”

When the little boy left, Tony set Lucky up in a large cardboard box, cushioned by a towel and two blankets, with walls high enough that he couldn't jump out. Placing a bowl with little scraps of chicken in it, next to the dog, Tony moved to wash his own hands and begin dinner prep.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments are lovely,  
> kudos are great,  
> tell me your thoughts,  
> and I will update.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucky, more singing, and another surprise visitor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic is getting way longer than I intended. 12 chapters was supposed to be the maximum, and I don't know if I'm even nearing finished.
> 
> My apologies.

After dinner, Clint announced to the rest of the kids that they all now had a dog named Lucky that needed to be trained and cared for. Tony thought it was amusing how the 7 year old handed out responsibilities to each of the other children without asking, as he sat back and watched.

They were all in charge of teaching the pup to answer to Lucky, and Clint gave himself the job of bathroom training. Sam shared the responsibility, and was also in charge of making sure Lucky was fed enough but not too much.

Steve was given the job of keeping the dog off the furniture, at least most of it, and Bucky was supposed to ensure that Lucky didn't chew on chair legs or slippers. Natasha was also given that task, but only after she hissed at Clint for giving her the job of "not killing the puppy."

Finally, Wanda was told to pet the dog regularly, and Tony's task was to keep anyone from coming to take Lucky away.

It had been such a long day that the kids were ready to bathe and sleep soon after their late dinner. Sam took care of himself and Clint, and Bucky took care of himself and Steve, only after insuring that the water wouldn't hurt his metal arm.

Tony took charge of Wanda and Natasha, and since the younger hated bathing, the inventor settled for wiping her down with a washcloth and brushing her teeth, before getting her into pjs. Natasha required a little help washing her hair, but she was otherwise competent enough to bathe herself. Tony was thankful for the competence, but deeply saddened by the circumstances that had caused such a young child to develop it.

Finishing with the girls, Tony helped Bucky get Steve into some sort of bath and shower combination. It seemed like kid hated water with a passion. In the end, Steve sat obstinately unmoving in the tub as Tony washed him using the shower head.

Clint had to be cajoled into actually brushing his teeth, but eventually he too was finished with the process. When everyone was clean and in pjs, Tony had to convince Natasha that she didn't need a fancy braid for sleeping, a mostly painless endeavor, and finally they were all ready for bed.

Wanda was put to down first while the others played some version of tag combined with hide-and-seek in the hallway and bedrooms. Sam refused to sleep, but he did agree to at least be quiet and stay in his room or the bathroom.

Tony allowed Clint to have Lucky in his room so long as the dog stayed in the box, because otherwise, the kid would have never gone to bed. From the dark circles forming under his eyes, the inventor speculated that Clint hadn't been sleeping very much at all since arriving in the U.S.

Natasha, who had been following him the whole time like a small spy shaped shadow, was the most reluctant of the children to sleep. To insure her cooperation, Tony reminded her about the deal they had made the first night and agreed to her accompanying him for the 'convince Steve to sleep' ritual.

Steve asked for the story about Edward, a character from Tony's first story, but since Natasha hadn't been present for that one, and the inventor hadn't figured out quite what to say, he didn't agree. Instead, Tony chose to sing to the kids instead. He gathered that they probably wouldn't want the same song as the last time, but he was also short on ideas of songs to which he knew the lyrics that were appropriately soothing to act as a lullaby. He settled on Flares by The Script:

_Did you lose what won't return?_   
_Did you love but never learn?_   
_The fire's out but still it burns,_   
_And no one cares, there's no one there..._

“Is this another sad song?”

“Be quiet Steve, I'm listening.”  
  
_Did you find it hard to breathe?_  
 _Did you cry so much that you could barely see?_  
 _In the darkness all alone,_  
 _And no one cares, there's no one there..._  
  
_Well did you see the flares in the sky?_  
 _Were you blinded by the light?_  
 _Did you feel the smoke in your eyes?_  
 _Did you? Did you?_  
 _Did you see the sparks feel the hope? You are not alone..._  
 _Cause someone's out there, sending out flares..._

“That's happier, right?”

“Steeevie, shhhhh.”  
  
_Did you break but never mend?_  
 _Did it hurt so much you thought it was the end?_  
 _Lose your heart but don't know when,_  
 _And no one cares, there's no one there..._

Natasha tucked herself more tightly into Tony's arms as he sang.  
  
_Well did you see the flares in the sky?_  
_Were you blinded by the light?_  
 _Did you feel the smoke in your eyes?_  
 _Did you? Did you?_  
 _Did you see the sparks feel the hope? You are not alone,_  
 _Cause someone's out there, sending out flares..._  
 _Someone's out there, sending out flares..._

“Sweet dreams, kiddos.”

“Goodnight, Tony,” two little voices chorused.

Returning to his own room, the inventor tucked himself and Natasha into his bed, and hoped there wouldn't be any nightmares. Of course, there were.

The redhead woke up several times during the night and the first two times, Tony comforted her and she snuggled closer to his side before falling back to sleep. They may have started out at opposite sides of the bed, by Tony's design, but soon she was practically lying on top of him.

The third time, it was Natasha who shook Tony from a nightmare. He had been working on getting control of himself, and so he hadn't hurt her with his thrashing, rather she had woken up because he was whispering "please, no more," over and over in his sleep.

Tony suggested a snack, more to distract her from what she'd heard than actual hunger, and the little girl agreed, holding her arm up to indicate that she wanted to be carried. The inventor obliged, and soon she was sitting next to him on the kitchen counter as they ate peanut butter out of jar between them. "Who were you talking to?" Natasha asked.

"What do you mean?"

"In your dream," she looked up at him expectantly, "you were saying words in your sleep. Who were you talking to in the dream?"

Tony tried to think of an honest yet not informative answer. "A friend," he finally told her, "but he wasn't acting much like a friend."

Bucky came in at some point, rubbing one eye, he too having woke from a nightmare. "Can I try too?" he asked indicating the jar, and Tony pulled out another spoon.

The inventor had himself and the kids brush their teeth again before sending Bucky back to bed and settling down in his with Natasha.

Later, Steve had a nightmare about Bucky's new arm, and from the little he told the inventor, it sounded more like a memory belonging to the adult super soldier. The kid ended up sleeping with Tony as well because after the dream, he didn't want to climb in with Buck.

Wanda and Sam slept through the night, thankfully, while Clint woke up several times to check on Lucky. The inventor only knew about it because the boy woke the puppy up each time to make sure he was sleeping not dead, and Lucky, upset about being awake, barked loudly. It was actually more like a yip than a bark, but it still woke Tony up.

* * *

When the inventor woke in the morning having only achieved stage 2 of the sleep cycle all night; he hadn't experienced REM consistently since Afghanistan, and it had gotten worse after New York. Soon he was taking sleeping pills practically by the bottle, but for the most part, he just didn't sleep at all. The last time he'd managed to get to REM unmedicated, he'd had dream that triggered a panic attack and almost hurt Pepper. He was far better off not dreaming at all, though even that he couldn't quite control.

Upon opening his eyes, he found that he had three children and a dog in his bed. Apparently, Clint had decided to bring Lucky to Tony when the puppy woke up, but then fell asleep himself.

The inventor smiled down at the children lying in his bed and extracted the dog. He put Lucky outside in a patch of grass, thankful that he had yet to urinate or defecate inside the house, and went back to the kids. Tony arranged them so that Steve wouldn't strangle himself with the blankets, and Clint had an arm around Natasha; he hoped that would console her when she woke up to find the inventor gone. Given their past interactions with each other, it wasn't an ideal set up, but he wanted to avoid Natasha accidentally snapping Steve's fragile little neck.

Finally, Tony moved into his office and started working on the Jarvis project. The second his fingers touched a keyboard, he heard barking and the sound of paws hitting the door. Grabbing a handful of peanuts from the kitchen, the inventor went outside to meet Lucky. Tony saw that the pup had done his business in Pepper's hydrangeas. The woman may have moved out many months earlier, but the inventor still took good care of the plants because she had loved them and he would always love her. If anyone mentioned the idea, he would say that it was sentimental bullshit, but it was more than that for him.

Tony praised Lucky profusely, giving him the peanuts as a treat and congratulating the dog on doing his business outside. He hadn't really been looking to raise kids, much less train a puppy, but Clint had looked so heartbroken at the thought of Tony returning Lucky that the inventor couldn't do it.

On his way back through the living room, the inventor encountered Natasha's drawings that had been abandoned in favor of dinner the day before. Deciding to analyze them later, Tony shuffled the papers into a pile which was placed on the bookshelf.

As he passed the nearest trash can, Tony noticed a crumpled piece of paper that looked to be another drawing. Pulling it out, the inventor the paper against the coffee table before examining it. At one side there was a little ballerina, complete with fiery red hair. With her, stood a woman drawn in black and grey, probably the Olena that Natasha had mentioned earlier, and on the ground by the dancer's feet there was a man with Tony's signature goatee.

Despite it being a child's drawing, it was clear that the man on the ground was dead, complete with X's for eyes, a lolling tongue, a large puddle of blood, and a knife in his chest. On the other side of the page, the same man was depicted, however he appeared to be alive, sitting on a cloud. That, and he wore a smile with his halo. Tony managed to keep from weeping over Natasha's ruined childhood, and he neatly folded the paper away to talk about later with the little girl herself.

* * *

When the inventor tried to go back to work, Lucky protested by weaving in and out between his legs. Tony gave in, picking up the dog and allowing him to sit on the inventor's lap at the computer. An entire hour passed before they were interrupted by Wanda crying. "Go, Lucky!" Tony commanded, putting the pup on the floor.

Lucky ran off towards the sound of crying and Tony followed more slowly, hoping that it would all be resolved before he arrived. When he entered the bedroom, Wanda was sitting on the floor, still whimpering, as Lucky licked the tears from her cheeks.

One of the girl's hands was pressed to her head, which clued Tony in to the original issue. Most likely, Wanda had bumped her head and all she needed was ice and a kiss. She said something unintelligible, but before she could start crying again, Tony dropped a gentle kiss on her head where the hand had been. "All better," he announced.

Wanda seemed to accept the judgement, or at least the certainty in his voice, and all was well in toddler world once again. Crisis resolved, Tony helped her in the bathroom, but left her in her pjs. When they entered the kitchen, Lucky following close behind, Natasha and Clint were sitting on stools at the kitchen island, still in their pj's. From the sounds just barely reaching the inventor's ears, Steve had woken up and was in the process of waking Bucky up too.

"You left," Natasha whined.

"I'm sorry, honey, Lucky needed to go outside," he told her, "I got caught up in work."

Natasha nodded, spinning around on the stool, "does that mean Clint will make sure I don't run away when you aren't there?"

Tony looked sceptically at the boy, who accepted the task, "yeah," the inventor replied.

A moment later, Sam trudged in, rubbing his eyes. "What's for breakfast?" he asked.

"That depends," Tony smiled and began looking through the available ingredients, "what do you guys want?"

As expected, Clint didn't say anything. Natasha shrugged and Sam asked for bacon and eggs which Steve seconded upon entering. Bucky was still pulling himself out of bed, but he would have probably said the same thing because he always backed his best friend.

Tony informed them that bacon wasn't an option, well-thought-out grocery lists weren't exactly his forte, but he did make toast and eggs with juice and strawberries. Bucky came in when breakfast was already half over, but there was still plenty of food, so he didn't complain.

It was pouring outside, thunder and lightning scaring Lucky, Wanda, and Steve, so Tony decided it was a good day to stay in pjs and do something low-key. In the living room, the inventor set Wanda up with her wordless picture book, got Steve drawing again, and encouraged Clint and Bucky to have a darts competition.

Sam was content to read on his own, and Natasha was eager to look at the Russian books she had picked out. Finally, Tony had the opportunity to get some work done. He couldn't go to his office because the girls were insisting on using him as a pillow, but he was able to work on his tablet.

Starting with his emails, the inventor was surprised to not have many from Pepper. They had broken up, but she still ran his company and relied on him to be 50% of the R&D department. The emails he did have told him the the Board wanted to meet even though he had specifically told them he was busy for next month, as did Ross, who was running out of threats to use.

Knowing the FRIDAY already read through his email, Tony sent one to himself, detailing how to take down Ross, legally and permanently. The rest of his emails gave him some ideas for babysitters, and reminded him that Rhodey would not be one of them.

As Tony was about to delve into the JARVIS project again, everyone in the room heard a thud outside, and the storm ended. "I think a friend is here," he told them, extracting himself from between Wanda and Natasha much to the girls' displeasure.

A moment later there was a heavy knock on the front door. Tony smiled and went to answer it, 5 children and a dog following him, and Wanda on his hip. "Man of Iron!" Thor greeted when the door swung open.

Tony cringed at the volume of the god's greeting which had caused Wanda to cover her ears and Clint to start crying. "Inside voice, Thor," the inventor reminded him.

As he let the god in, Tony noticed the intricate pattern burned into the lawn at the door's right, and had the urge to smack Thor upside the head. He resisted.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments are lovely,  
> kudos are great,  
> tell me your thoughts,  
> and I will update.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thor babysits and Lucky goes to the vet

When everyone had reassembled in the living room, Tony introduced the hulking blonde to the kids. Clint dove behind the couch, while Wanda toddled over to grip Tony's pant leg. Steve looked a little nervous and was immediately tucked securely under flesh Bucky's arm, while Natasha appeared curious and Sam had put on his most defiant expression.

"I was told of your civil war, I had no idea of these consequences," Thor said, turning to Tony, "I have spent this past week with my Lady Jane, and we were not informed of this."

The only part of what Thor had said that made sense to Steve was the “Civil War” part. He stood, feeling very proud. "The Civil War began in 1861 when..."

"Steve, this is a conversation, not a history report," Tony interrupted, trying to be gentle.

The inventor sighed, "I didn't do this," he told the god, "they were hiding, but a witch who was mad at Wanda found them and cursed them to be like this for a month."

"Perhaps we should discuss this away from the ears of children," Thor suggested.

Tony agreed, so he got all the kids calmed down and engaged in some kind of activity before meeting Thor in the kitchen. Steve was the hardest because the little boys was still upset about the history report comment.

"I'm sorry," Tony told him, "I only stopped you because Thor isn't from around here, and I didn't want to confuse him."

Steve nodded, and the inventor left to meet Thor in the other room. The two discussed everything that had happened since Thor left for Asgard, while the god nibbled on leftover cookies, and it was unsurprising that he sided with Tony. It was also not a surprise that he railed in righteous anger at the stupidity of Team Cap's actions until Tony stopped him.

"Point Break, you've got to remember that they are kids now, and need to be cared for. Once they are adults again, then you can do whatever you want with them."

Thor nodded sagely, "I commend your kind heart, Anthony. Not many would care for their enemies in a weakened state rather than take advantage of it. It is an honor to call you friend and I shall aid you in this endeavor as much as I am able."

"The reason I have returned to Midgard is not far in relation," he continued, "the infinity stone in the possession of your creation, Vision, was detected one moment, and the next it was gone."

Tony nodded, "I don't know what happened to Viz or the stone, I'm sorry buddy."

"None of our enemies have possession of it, and for that reason we can be glad of its disappearance, as that will prevent the completion of the infinity gauntlet by the evil Titan Thanos."

"When the kids are back to normal, if Viz isn't back, I'll build something to find the stone. We can talk about this Thanos character then."

"Many thanks, my friend, from me, my father, and our allies across the galaxy."

Thor gathered the inventor in a nearly bone crushing hug. "No problem, big guy," Tony wheezed when the god let go of him.

At that point, Lucky came bounding into the room. "What is this joyous creature?" Thor asked, scooping the puppy into his lap and stroking the dog very carefully.

In explaining to Thor what a puppy was, Tony remembered that Lucky needed a collar and shots. He didn't want to take the kids with him, it was still raining a bit, and Thor was the only adult available as a babysitter, because Fitz was taking his partner Simmons out to dinner. Tony hoped they would give their kids the name Fitzsimmons, it was just too perfect.

Thus it was decided that the god would watch the kids while Tony took Clint and Lucky shopping for the additional groceries required to feed the god even for a few meals, and to get the dog vaccinated. Thor was concerned that Clint had insisted on accompanying the inventor, but while the boy was changing out of his pj's, Tony explained. "He's been treated pretty badly by adult males. He doesn't even trust me yet, and I'm smaller than you."

Thor nodded in understanding. "Such cruelty towards children is not confined to Midgard."

No more was said on the topic.

At that point Clint reappeared with Lucky in his arms. Though the dog seemed to calm the boy a bit, in Thor's presence, he tried to hide behind Tony. "I shall do you no harm, young archer," the god announced.

Clint didn't appear convinced but the rest of the kids were enamored with the god's jovial personality. Tony gave Thor fairly broad instructions, like "imagine they're made out of the most delicate porcelain, be gentle," and "pop-tarts are not a sufficient substitute for lunch, protein and fruit are required."

Sam seemed to be okay with the arrangement, and simply went back to reading his comic book. It bothered Tony that acceptance and apathy were nearly the same for the 12 year old, and he resolved to speak with him later. Steve and Bucky weren't happy about being left with another stranger, but they believed the inventor when he said that they could trust the hulking blonde.

Natasha was slightly miffed that she had not been invited on the outing, and Tony could only imagine the trouble she would give Thor. Wanda didn't understand what was going on, but while the inventor looked on, she appeared happy to share her wooden blocks with the god.

Once Thor was prepared for a few hours of babysitting, Clint and Tony left to take Lucky to the vet. For the entire car ride, the little boy fidgeted, most likely worried that the inventor would have the dog put down. No matter what Tony said to the contrary, Clint didn't believe him.

The appointment at the vet went fairly well, Lucky was healthy, and didn't need too many shots. Tony had decided not to neuter the dog because it wasn't necessary and Clint would have never agreed to it.

At a store nearby the vet, they bought a collar, some chew toys, and a guide book about caring for and training puppies. Promising that he would make Lucky a tag, Tony convinced Clint that some grocery shopping was in order.

Another problem presented itself when they arrived and realized that while it wasn't written on a sign, Lucky was probably not allowed in the store. That led to the decision to ignore the likely rules, and bring the dog with them anyway. Fortunately, he was drowsy and fell asleep on a blanket in the baby seat of the shopping cart.

Hoping for the best, Tony ventured down the first isle, pushing the cart with one hand and holding tightly to Clint with the other. Finding pop-tart lookalikes for Thor was difficult, but the inventor had read the ingredients list on the real pop-tarts and was mildly horrified, so it was worth the search.

By the time they were in line for the register, the cart was nearly full. Tony had insisted on the fresh fruit, and Clint had asked for muffins so hesitantly and quietly that the inventor could hardly say no. When he had sent the kid to get whatever muffins he wanted and Clint had returned with a set of 4 wrapped in plastic, Tony had grimaced. Having to tell the kid no wasn't pleasant, but the inventor managed, and they went together to exchange what Clint had found for a variety of the fresh baked ones.

In the cart next to the toaster pastries for Thor, sat a large bag of dog food. Tony knew that he could keep feeding Lucky whatever the kids were eating, but there was nothing wrong with being prepared. When it came to meat, the cart held steaks ready for grilling, hot dogs, and ground beef to make hamburger patties or meatballs. Tony knew that Thor loved steak, but also that only about half of the children would agree to even trying it, hence the more kid friendly proteins.

Several jars of peanut butter and one of hazelnut-chocolate spread had found their way into the cart because the rate at which peanut butter and such spreads disappeared in a house of 6 children was frankly alarming. PB&J was a staple of feeding kids, everybody knew that, but Tony had introduced eating peanut butter by the spoonful to Bucky and Natasha. From his experience, the existing supply would not last long.

Healthy snacks were a necessity, so the cart held a fair amount of that, and pasta. Tony had managed to find soaps, kids shampoo, and a few umbrellas at the store which had also made their into the cart. Ice cream was present of course, as were more baking supplies.

The cashier smiled down at Clint as he was ringing up their selections, having already offered Tony a friendly greeting. "How many siblings do you have?" he asked the kid.

Clint looked up at the man suspiciously, "how do you know I have any?"

The cashier was a little flustered, but quickly smiled again, "no one buys this much peanut butter without having at least 2 kids," was the answer.

Clint nodded, grudgingly accepting the response. "5" he said finally.

Tony continued to load groceries onto the conveyer belt, happy that Clint was interacting with an adult male besides the inventor, perhaps Thor had hope. The cashier started loading things into bags to make room for what Tony was adding. "Is your Dad married?" he asked Clint.

The kid shrugged, but then shook his head slowly. The cashier nodded wisely, pausing for a moment, "go easy on him, okay? Being a single parent is hard."

Clint thought about that most of the way back to the house. When they were entering the neighborhood, the kid finally spoke up. "Why did you foster all of us?" he asked Tony.

The inventor stayed silent for a long time, asking himself the same question. "Because I didn't trust anyone else to do it," he answered finally.

"You guys need a special kind of attention and care that normal foster parents can't provide. I'm not great at it, but I think I'm doing better than they would," Tony continued after a pause, hoping his words were the truth, "the adult versions of you guys did some questionable things and made a lot of people angry, so it would be dangerous to let just anyone foster you. Does that make sense?"

Clint hummed an agreement, and turned to pet Lucky who was 1/2 awake. Tony had been expecting a mess of epic proportions comprised of smashed furniture and scattered toys when he returned to the house.

What he found was Thor sitting cross legged in the nearly immaculate living room, animatedly telling stories about his adventures in the 9 realms. Wanda was sitting on the couch, pulling at Thor's hair, Natasha was sprawled across the coffee table, and Steve was sitting neatly on the floor next to Thor. Bucky had removed his metal arm and was using it as a prop in conjunction with the story, and Sam was listening quietly, but for once he was smiling.

Tony leaned against the door frame, watching the goings on contentedly. Clint was standing next to him, cradling Lucky in one arm and clutching at the inventor with the other. Thor still scared him, but he did seem to be enjoying the story.

At the end of Thor's tale, Tony's presense was noticed. The god seemed to be enjoying himself, "Man of Iron, join us! I have been introduced to the game of tidying and we are sharing stories of our glorious victories in battle. Next we plan to feast ourselves on the sustenance contained in the chamber you call a kitchen. The young one was quite bereft upon your exit, but all has now been rectified."

Tony smiled as all the kids jumped to their feet and raced towards him. Okay, maybe only Natasha and Wanda 'raced' over, but the inventor did receive hugs from each child. He wondered who had introduced Thor to the cleanup game. His money was on Steve.

Having Thor around was great for getting the groceries into the house, but Tony still kicked everyone but Wanda and Lucky out of the kitchen so he could make a late lunch. Wanda refused to leave, not even allowing him to put her down, and Lucky had fallen asleep in his blanketed box.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments are lovely,  
> kudos are great,  
> tell me your thoughts,  
> and I will update.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short little update.

Lunch was quite the event, with the kids amazed at the quantity of food Thor was capable of consuming. Steve gave them all a lecture about conserving resources and whatnot until Bucky reminded him that they weren't living in the Depression anymore. Clint seemed to be warming up to Thor, and the god knew to be very careful around him. Sam seemed to be more open and happy then before, and while Tony was grateful for that, he was also a little jealous that he hadn't been able to elicit that particular emotion in the kid very much at all.

Sometime during the meal, Natasha disappeared, and as Tony had his back to the table, cooking and assembling plates, he didn't notice. Thor was absorbed in conversation with Steve, Bucky, Clint, and Sam, and Wanda had fallen asleep on the couch in the other room.

Once 6 plates had made their way onto the table, the inventor realized that the girl for whom the 6th plate, with significantly less food than the others, was gone. Thor happily took responsibility for Natasha's plate while Tony went to look for the little redhead.

He found her in his room, curled up tightly in the bedcovers. She wasn't asleep or crying, which worried Tony more than if she had been. When she noticed him, Natasha sprang from the bed as if she had been doing something wrong. In all fairness, he had only explicitly allowed her to use the bed at night, but that was mostly because he didn't think that he really had a say in the matter. The varying numbers of children that climbed in by morning served as testament to that.

“Tasha,” he began, sitting down on the bed, a few feet away from her blanket pile, “what's up?”

She didn't respond, sitting back on a pillow. “Lunch is important,” Tony told her gently, well aware of his hypocrisy, “are you not hungry? Is that why you left?”

She shook her head, not looking at him. “Why did you leave me here?” she asked, chewing on her bottom lip.

“I thought you had a good time with Thor.”

“I guess... why did Clint get to come with you and I didn't?”

Tony struggled to find an answer that would settle Natasha's concerns without revealing too much about Clint's past. “Well, he brought Lucky home... and he wouldn't let me take the dog to the vet without him present because he was worried that I was going to have Lucky put down. Thor also scared him a little. Does that make sense?”

“No,” Natasha murmured, climbing into his lap.

“Honey, I'm trying my best, I hope you know that. I've never taken care of a kid for more than a day or so, never-mind 6. What can I do to make you feel better?”

“Can I have a t-shirt?” she asked timidly.

“Sure, there are a bunch in your room,” Tony saw her shake her head, “or do you want a clean one of mine?”

She nodded, and let him lead her to the closet. Eventually, she picked out a black shirt with a winged sword stabbing a bleeding heart and “Bon Jovi” in gold colored lettering. It would, of course, be far too large on her, but if it made her happy, Tony wasn't going to argue.

“How about we go get you some food now?” the inventor suggested.

“Not hungry,” she muttered, following him from the room, shirt clutched to her chest.

“I'm going to let that go for right now,” he warned her, “but we do need to talk about this not eating thing.”

Natasha didn't respond, and Tony had to turn his attention towards Wanda who had wet her pants while she slept. 

* * *

 

The afternoon was fairly peaceful, for the most part. Tony tried to engage with Sam, but only succeeded in getting the kid to go outside with the other boys and Natasha. They played something kind of like soccer in the backyard while Thor entertained Wanda, and Tony got a chance to work. He couldn't help snapping a picture of the little girl telling Thor how to do a puzzle; he was envious of the god's AllSpeak that allowed him to communicate with her.

Deciding that Natasha was probably not in the mood to discuss her drawings, Tony focused on his other responsibilities. The necessary SI business was fairly easy, and he got about an hour and a half to work on JARVIS before something went wrong.

It was Steve. Of Course. The inventor had forgotten quite how fragile the child version was, and hadn't issued the appropriate warnings before letting him engage in physical activity with the others.

Clint came to get Tony, while Bucky stayed outside with his fallen friend, Sam looked around helplessly, and Natasha tried to help Steve. As it turned out, the child had fallen and hurt his wrist, then panicked and set off his asthma. Tony didn't know what to do, so he did one of the things he hated most.

He called 911.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments are lovely,  
> kudos are great,  
> tell me your thoughts,  
> and I will update.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything turned out okay... maybe even a little better than okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mostly fluff, but also a little bit of pretty intense angst. I hope you like it, let me know.

In the frenzied rush to get Steve to a hospital, Tony might have been comfortable treating his own health with a cavalier attitude but he would never do that to anyone else, the inventor didn't get the chance to explain what was going on or tell Thor about dinner and bedtime routines.

In the ambulance, Tony finally realized all the complications that going to a hospital would create for him. Keeping 70% of his attention on Steve, and feeling incredibly guilty about it, the inventor put in the earpiece of his phone prototype. He had left the main device back at the house, but he could still talk to F.R.I.D.A.Y. which he did, as discreetly as possible.

“Hey, honey, I'm taking Steve to the hospital. Can you send appropriate identification for both of us to my phone.”

“Under what names would you like the electronic identification?” the AI asked, knowing that it wasn't a good time for sassy banter.

“Forrest and... Forrest. Also medical records.”

“Any specific details that need to be included?”

“Malnutrition, asthma, fragile bones, all that,” Tony told her, quietly adding, “also explanations for all the Great Depression stuff that I'm missing.”

“No problem Boss,” F.R.I.D.A.Y. responded, “the requested information is now accessible on the hospital's servers. I will also print out a copy here for Thor, and versions for each of the other children in case of any more emergencies.”

“You're the best, Fri. Can you run me through the basics?”

“You are Anthony S. Forrest, and Steven R. Forrest is your recently adopted son, from an unknown location, with many health issues. You live in San Jose, California and you are in Boston to meet with friends from BU.”

Tony, looking around to make sure that no one had been listening to him or at had east mistaked the conversation as being with a concerned relative, thanked the AI, not even complaining about the BU detail of the story. The paramedics were focused on Steve, as they were supposed to be, and the vehicle had just pulled up by the hospital.

After that, everything was a bit of a blur up until Tony was sitting in the armchair beside Steve's bed. The doctor had decided to keep him for observation in a steril environment, a prudent idea given the child's fragile body and penchant for illness.

Steve was sleeping peacefully, which was a small blessing. The issue with the kid's airways may have been resolved, but he was still hooked up to oxygen, and an IV line. Luckily, the wrist wasn't broken, however it had been sprained badly and would need to be in a brace or wrapped for the next 10 days at least.

Tony was just grateful that it had been the non-dominant arm, so Steve would still be able to draw as he kept his wrist iced and elevated. There would enevitable be issue with not allowing him to play with the others, but the inventor figured that giving the kid more art supplies and books might keep his mind off it for a little while.

* * *

As Tony had taken out his earpiece, F.R.I.D.A.Y. wasn't able to inform him of Thor's intention to visit. In addition, the inventor had actually slept for nearly 5 hours; sharing a bed with a child was actually doing his sleep cycle a lot of good. On the other hand, achieving REM meant dreams.

Thor was a likeable individual. He was jovial and friendly and understanding, and even very wise at times, and Tony enjoyed his company. At least during the daylight hours. Nightmares were the reason the inventor stopped sleeping, and while he usually had far more traumatic experiences to dream about, Thor's presence in the daytime triggered his appearance in Tony's dreams.

Usually, a Thor related nightmare would begin before the Battle of New York, when the god had attempted to electrocute Tony through the suit, but quickly skip to the inventor returning to his tower and getting out of the incredibly damaged armor. The conversation with Thor's brother that ensued featured prominently sometimes, but other times it was nearly irrelevant.

The key part was Loki grabbing Tony the neck, holding him for a second, and tossing him out the window. Sometimes, Thor would simply be there laughing, but more often than not, he took Loki's place in the defenestration part.

Next, the dream would transition to an incident after Ultron and before Vision when Thor hed held Tony in the air with one hand around the genius' neck. Sometimes Loki would just be there, and sometimes he would be in Thor's place or in Tony's mind. Every time, when the inventor woke up, he had to remind himself that Thor was one of the good guys.

 

Tony was falling down down down, about to hit the NYC pavement, staring up at Thor who watched from the Tower's deck, when a nurse shook him awake. “What is it?” he asked, immediately on high alert.

“You have visitors, Mr. Forrest. A blonde man who calls himself Donald and claims to have a PhD, along with a bunch of kids,” the nurse said skeptically.

Tony nodded slowly. Eric Selvig had told him the story of getting Thor away from SHIELD under the alias of a PhD possessing physicist named Donald. After that point, the story had gotten a little muddled by the copious amounts of alcohol ingested by Dr. Selvig when he tried to out-drink the god. “If you wouldn't mind, could you send them up here, but tell them to be very quiet?”

“No problem,” the nurse told him, exiting.

* * *

Steve was about half-awake when Thor and the other kids arrived. He had been told of the situation, but didn't really understand what was going on. Vacating the armchair in favor of an empty spot on Steve's bed, Tony waited for the inevitably raucous entrance.

The god entered, quite proud of himself for “procuring the transportation vehicle that Midguardians call a taxicab,” and was carrying Wanda, who was barely awake, but completely adorable in her footie pajamas.

Surprisingly, Sam and Clint were the two making the most noise, while Bucky appeared quite sad or maybe even guilty. Tony would need to speak with Bucky later about that, but he was glad that Sam seemed to be getting more comfortable.

Natasha came in last, her hair in disarray; Thor had many skills, but braiding the hair of Midguadrian children was not one of them. She was wearing the Bon Jovi shirt that Tony had given her, it was basically a long dress, with grey leggings. He noted that she was rubbing her eyes, and appeared quite tired; she had probably refused to sleep alone. The inventor couldn't help but smile when she pulled her brush out from behind her back and held it out to him expectantly.

As Tony brushed and braided Natasha's hair, he surveyed the other children. The boys had gathered around Steve, Sam and Clint on one side, with Bucky on the other. Clint was wearing a shirt stoo big for him that probably belonged to Bucky, and Sam still wore his pajamas. Bucky was dressed in the same clothes from the day before, bearing the grass stains of the soccer game.

Wanda, who was attempting and failing to climb Tony's back like a tree, had the messiest pigtails the inventor had ever seen, and was clutching her favorite stuffed lemur. Finishing Natasha's hair, Tony turned to the younger of the girls who allowed him to fix her pigtails without a fuss.

Thor sat in the arm chair, immediately falling asleep. Tony felt for the guy, knowing how hard taking care of the kids was, and imagining that Thor had stayed up with Natasha all night out of some Asgardian sense of honor for which the inventor was grateful.

Turning his attention to Steve and the others, Tony listened in on their conversation. Clint was talking animatedly and without restraint; it was a beautiful sight. “...And then Sam made breakfast! Eggs and toast and juice and everything. For all of us; even Thor,” the kids said excitedly.

All eyes moved to the blushing 12 year old. “Thank you for doing that, Sam,” Tony praised him, reaching out an arm hopefully, “that is really responsible, and I'm really proud of you for taking care of everyone.”

Sam blushed even harder, smiling as he backed away from Clint and moved towards Tony's outstreached arm. Then inventor hugged him tightly, and while Sam was a little stiff and it might have been akward, it was progress.

Looking around at the kids, the inventor smiled. At present, the situation was far from ideal, but if felt like family.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments are lovely,  
> kudos are great,  
> tell me your thoughts,  
> and I will update.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A couple heart-to-heart's, and an old memory.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please don't be put off by my use of another language. I will put a translation and a link to a version of the song in the endnotes.

It was a relief to get Steve home and set up on the couch with pillows and blankets. Tony hated hospitals, and from his observations, Natasha and Thor did as well. Clint, it seemed, had never been to one, while Steve was all too familiar with the environment, distracted from the new fangled technology by his condition. Bucky hadn't reacted much to being at the hospital, and neither had Wanda or Sam. It was a small thing, but a good one, none the less.

Wanda didn't really care about Steve's condition because at her age, she was focused on getting as much attention as possible from her primary caregiver. Unfortunately for her, Tony had experienced a realization at the hospital; he needed invest more energy in bonding with Sam, Bucky, and Steve. As adults, Tony felt a mixture of fear, anger, and betrayal in relation to the three, while Wanda made him feel sad, guilty, and frightened.

Tony knew he was letting his feeling towards the adults influence his relationships with the kids, and he felt horrible about it. Wanda was cute and small, and helpless enough that it was easy to set her older self's actions aside, but not so much with the boys.

Handing the 2.5 year old to Thor, energetic as always, Tony sent each of the kids to do something else so he could talk to Steve alone. Clint was told to care for Lucky, who had most likely done his business in the house, Sam left willingly to go read, and Natasha had dissapeared, but Tony knew she would return, so he let it happen. Bucky was the most difficult to send away, but eventually the inventor convinced him to go clean Steve's dried blood off his metal fingers.

“Steve, bud, I think it's time we had a serious chat,” Tony began, sitting down on the couch.

The child looked up at him expectantly, good hand tucking the blanket more tightly. “I'm really sorry,” Tony sighed, “I should have been more concious of your health issues. I promise that I didn't mean to take advantage of you being weak to get revenge.”

For a moment, Steve was silent, and Tony held his breath, wondering if the kid was going to yell or cry. He didn't know which would be worse, but was prepared for both. “Revenge?” Steve asked.

Tony didn't know what to say. He may have been a genius, but interpersonal relations wasn't exactly his forte and he often had no brain-to-mouth filter. “Why do you want revenge?” Steve looked incredibly sad, but also curious; he was a kid afterall.

“I don't kiddo. I promise. No revenge will happen.”

“But why?” Steve whined.

It was time for an explanation. “Have you noticed that everything around you is a little different? The clothes and the cars and even the hospital?”

“Yes... But you said we were going to a different country.”

“I did say that. What I didn't say was that we weren't in America to begin with. We were in an African country called Wakanda.”

“Why?”

“That's a long story, buddy,” Tony hoped that Steve wouldn't want to hear it.

Of course, he did. “Tell meeeeee.”

“Well, I don't know if you will even believe me,” Tony began, “but I know you as an adult, and some confused magic brought you to the future and turned you into a child. The year is 2016.”

“Woah...” Steve took in the information, “but what about the revenge?”

“I had an argument with adult you, and it turned into a fight. You wanted me to stop following you and trying to help, so you hit me pretty hard and then went to live in Wakanda.”

“But I don't want revenge. I'm not mad.”

“Only bullies hit people. Is adult me a bully?” Huge tears began to gather in Steve's eyes.

“Come here,” Tony said gently, gathering Steve into a careful hug, “we don't need to talk about that.”

“I'm a big fat bully, aren't I?” The tears continued to fall.

“I promise, you aren't fat at all. In fact, you have a lot of muscles and look very nice,” Tony managed to get the 6 year old to laugh.

At that point, Bucky had finished washing the blood off, and came in to play with Steve. Tony left them to it.

Knocking on Sam's door, Tony was rather nervous. He liked kids, no doubt, but Sam was the oldest, only a year away from hitting the teenager age range. “Come in,” a voice called from the other side of the door.

Tony entered the room to find Sam lying on the bed, his nose in one of the new comic books. When he saw who had been knocking, the kids sat up straight and put the book to the side.

“Sam,” Tony said with a smile, “I just wanted to tell you again how proud and grateful I am for your help. I know that I haven't been paying much attention to you, and I'm sorry.”

“It's okay,” Sam muttered, “still better than the foster homes.”

Tony wanted to cry, but he held himself together, reaching out to Sam, wanting to hold the kid until everything was okay. Reluctantly, Sam accepted the hug, and murmured something into Tony's shoulder that the inventor didn't quite catch.

“What was that?” Tony asked when they broke apart.

“It's really nice to have my own books and stuff,” he smiled, shyly, “and I found a suitcase in the closet. Can I use that instead of the trash bag, please?”

“Of course you can,” Tony answered, wondering why a suitcase had been in the closet, “I don't want you to go stay at a different foster home, but I can't promise to keep you. It's out of my control. I'm sorry.”

“It's okay,” Sam sounded resigned and wouldn't meet the inventor's eyes, “I'm used to it.”

“Do you want to talk about it? About being in foster care and stuff?”

“Can I?”

“I'll listen to anything you want to tell me.”

Sam preceded to tell Tony about the 3 foster homes he'd lived in since his 2nd parent's death. Fortunately, none of his stories even hinted at anything as traumatic as what little Clint had told him. Still, Sam hadn't had an easy time. He was bullied at school and had yet to greive over the loss of his parents and his old life. What concerned Tony most was the fact that Sam had been in 3 different foster homes in 8 months.

Making a note to look into the foster system and figure out a way to help, Tony listened to the child talk. He was really glad that Sam was finally opening up and beginning to work through some of his issues. The best part was when he described the foster home in which he'd been living before waking up in Wakanda. From the research Tony had done about Sam's life, he knew the child would be adopted by that foster family and proceed to live fairly happily with them for the next 6 years before joining the military. 

* * *

 

That night, getting Steve to go to sleep was a real challenge. The kid couldn't figure out a way to sleep comfortably while also keeping his injured arm out of harms way. When a new story didn't calm Steve enough to make him sleep, Tony still hadn't figured out what to do with the Edward character he created no matter how many times a follow-up story was requested, Tony resorted to singing.

He couldn't think of any songs that he knew and would also sound decent a capella and had even remotely calming melodies. As he was trying to come up with one, three imacient children looking up at him, Natasha was there as well, Tony was reminded of a lullaby from long ago.

The first time both Howard and Maria were out of town and Aunt Peggy was too busy, Edwin and Anna Jarvis had taken Tony in for a few days. They were basically part of the Stark family already, but they lived in their own house, and Tony had a hard time sleeping in new environments.

While Edwin Jarvis had been the primary caregiver during the day, it was Anna who sung Tony to sleep. She had lost the ability to have her own children, so she took Tony as her own, Maria was happy to share, and taught him about her people and her culture whenever possible.

After that first time, sleepovers with the Jarvis' increased in frequency. Anna taught Tony many different lullabies, but his favorite had always been the one called “Oifen Pripitchik.”

Though he was reluctant to share the memory with the particular individuals in the room, or at least their adult selves, Tony figured that they wouldn't remember it anyway once the month was over.

He began singing, the words clear and strong despite all the years that had passed 

**אויפן פריפעטשיק ברענט א פייערל**

**און אין שטוב איז הייס**

**און דער רבי לערנט קליינע קינדערלעך**

**דעם אל** **"** **ף בי** **"** **ת**

“What is this?” Steve complained, “I don't understand.

The others shushed him, and Tony continued.

 **  
** **זאגט זשע** **,** **קינדערלעך** **,** **געדענקט זשע טייערע**  

 **וואס איר לערנט דא**  

 **זאגט זשע נאך א מאל** **,** **און טאקע נאך א מאל**  

 **קמץ אלף** **:** **אָ**  

 

 **לערנט** **,** **קינדער** **,** **מיט גרויס חשק**  

 **אזוי זאג איך אייך אן**  

 **ווער ס** **'** **וועט גיכער פון אייך קענען עברי**  

**דער באקומט א פאהן**

Natasha began to hum along, as did Bucky. Glancing at the older, Tony saw a bit of recognition in the boy's eyes. He kept singing.

 **לערנט** **,** **קינדער** **,** **האט נישט מורא**  

 **יעדער אנהייב איז שווער**  

 **גליקלעך דער וואס האט געלערנט תורה**  

 **צי דארף א מענטש נאך מער**  

  
**איר וועט** **,** **קינדער** **,** **עלטער ווערן**  

 **וועט** **איר אליין פארשטיין**  

 **וויפל** **אין די** **אותיות** **לי** **גן טרערן**

**און וויפל געוויין**

Lost in nostalgia, Tony didn't notice that all 3 children had drifted off. Natasha's head lay in his lap, and he absent mindedly stroked her hair as he finished the song.

 **אז איר וועט** **,** **קינדער** **,** **דעם גלות שלעפן**  

 **אויסגעמוטשעט זיין**  

 **זאלט איר פון די אותיות כוח שעפן**  

**קוקט אין זיי אריין**

 

When he finished, Tony carried Natasha back to his room and tucked her and himself in. That night, he dreamed of the beautiful Hungarian redhead who had been his second mother.

* * *

Steve recovered fairly quickly, and while his arm would need to be rested for another 10 days, he was up, off the couch, and playing happily. Thor had left to attend to his other duties, promising to be back as soon as possible, and the all children missed him. Well, the kids minus Clint, missed him.

Tony had even managed to get Bucky to open up a little. Mostly what the kid told him was about Steve and his big mouth, but the inventor also learned a little about the person Bucky Barnes had been before the war. He was still bitter over the murder of his parents, but he had hacked his way through the Hydra system and found all the evidence he needed to begin forgiving the man.

Natasha was still sleeping in Tony's bed, and Clint had begun climbing in after nightmares as well. Wanda already spent a great deal of time sleeping on Tony, but she too occasionally joined the pile of bodies that occupied the inventor's bed at night.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the song translation (not perfect, but decent):
> 
> On the hearth, a fire burns,  
> And in the house it is warm.  
> And the rabbi is teaching little children,  
> The alphabet.  
> See, children, remember, dear ones,  
> What you learn here;  
> Repeat and repeat yet again,  
> "Komets-alef: uh!"  
> Learn, children, with great enthusiasm.  
> So I instruct you;  
> He among you who learns pronunciation fastest -  
> He will receive a flag.  
> Learn children, don't be afraid,  
> Every beginning is hard;  
> Lucky is the one has learned the Torah,  
> What more does a person need?  
> When you grow older, children,  
> You will understand by yourselves,  
> How many tears lie in these letters,  
> And how much lament.  
> When you, children, will bear the Exile,  
> And will be exhausted,  
> May you derive strength from these letters,  
> Look in them!
> 
> And here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEePEWGGLOs
> 
> That is the version from the movie Schindler's List. It's a pretty upsetting video to those of you who haven't seen that kind of stuff before, so if you have a sensitivity images of to death and violence, just put on the audio and go to a new tab.
> 
> Let me know what you think of the chapter.


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A bit of domesticity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it took me a bit and this is kind of short. I'm in need of inspiration.

It didn't take very long for Tony to figure out the difficulties of doing laundry for 7 human beings. He knew the basics from college, but he'd never done laundry for more than 2 people, and in recent years, he'd been busy enough that he'd sent it all out.

First, there was the matter of separating clothing by color and specific washing instructions. That proved to be fairly easy, though having time to do any laundry was difficult in itself. The problems came mostly when the clothes came out of the dryer or off the line and were all dumped in a basket. The sorting process was particularly challenging because most of the kids couldn't identify which clothes belonged to them, and Wanda grabbed from the baskets randomly, while Clint and Natasha deliberately took clothing that belonged to others.

The little redhead had already claimed several of Tony's t-shirts, and he didn't bother arguing. Clint seemed to be quite fond of the patterns on Steve's socks and thus the socks “got lost” with alarming frequency. Sam was helpful and accommodating as always and Bucky didn't really care whether or not his clothing was clean. Wanda didn't mind playing with the clothes, but she often refused to wear them. Lucky liked to chew on or sleep in the laundry, but the kids were making steady progress with his training.

Even after Tony's standards changed from “clean and fresh” to simply “clean enough,” 7 people created a lot of dirty laundry. They were having a lazy morning, and the inventor had brought several baskets of clean clothing into the living room to be sorted and folded while he supervised the kids.

Clint had predictably gone straight for the dartboard, and Steve the drawing supplies; Tony thanked the powers that be, Asgardian gods or otherwise, that the child had hurt his non-dominant wrist. Sam read quietly on the couch, new comic books and mysteriously appeared on the doorstep, and Wand played with several stuffed animals, babbling to herself. As always, Bucky sat beside Steve, watching the other draw. It didn't feel right to Tony, but he had yet to succeed in separating the two.

Natasha disappeared briefly, and when she returned, she informed Tony that she would be helping with the laundry and that “the talking machine” had something to tell him. Checking his phone, the inventor saw F.R.I.D.A.Y.'s notice about an upcoming dinner that he'd promised to attend and had been on his calendar for several weeks. It wasn't the type of thing to which one could bring 6 children unannounced, leaving Tony with a single option, calling Coulson.

The inventor had called Jane, but she had no idea as to where Thor had run off, which temporarily removed him from the list of possible babysitters. Dialing the appropriate number, Tony began to sort the clothing before him into piles by whichever child it seemed to match. After 3 rings, the phone was answered.

“Stark.”

“Agent.”

“I take it you need another babysitter?” Tony could hear Coulson smiling through the phone.

“Could I have Fitz?” the inventor asked hopefully, "the spider-aunt is making dinner, attendance mandatory."

“I need him,” the other man apologized, “I can't really spare any of my people right now.”

“I understand,” Tony replied, quickly blocking the receiver, “Steve, what part of 'don't draw on the walls' did you not understand?”

Sheepishly, the downsized super soldier backed away from the wall. Tony's glance slid to Bucky who was focused intently on building a complex Lincoln-Log-esqe structure out of the unessential art supplies. The inventor was glad to see him doing something of his own volition.

“Tasha, that shirt is mine, you can't keep it,” Tony snatched his Pink Floyd shirt away from her, uncovering the receiver, “sorry about that, the kids are a handful.”

Coulson chuckled. “I imagine that they are. I need my people right now, but I think Jane might have a friend who could help you out.”

“Wanda, hands are not for hitting!”

“I see you're busy. I'll be going then. Talk later,” Coulson hung up before Tony could respond.

The inventor tiredly folded a blue sweater, handing it to Natasha so she could correctly place it among the piles representing individual children. He thought about Agent's suggestion; was a girl who was so fond of her tazer really an appropriate babysitting choice? 

* * *

 

That night, after putting everyone down, Tony got out his phone to call Jane again. He really needed a babysitter. Natasha, of course, was present, and Wanda was as well, though she had fallen asleep on his lap very quickly. Sam and Clint had moved into the same room because of the nightmares, but still, Clint was curled up by Tony's shoulder.

Jane was awake doing science, and picked up her phone on the 2nd ring. Tony was so distracted by his phone call and lack of sleep in the last few days that he didn't notice Natasha removing his shirt until it was blocking his vision. Deciding that it would be easier to give in than to try putting it back on, the inventor let her finish undressing his top half. It was when she started tracing the lines that decorated his chest that he realized what was happening.

“Shit!” he cursed unintentionally, “I'm gonna have to call you back.”

With that, he ended the call, pushing Natasha off his chest gently and reaching for a shirt. It was too late; she had seen it. Ever since getting the surgery in Afghanistan, Tony's chest had been decorated by scars, and the palladium poisoning had added unique scars of its own. In addition, there were the scars left over the surgery to remove the reactor and the shrapnel, and the most recent ones came from Steve's... no... Howard's shield.

Recently, just before his 3rd trip to Nairobi, Tony had finally tattooed over the scars. He knew that someone would see his chest again, be it a pap, Rhodey, a doctor, or in this case, a small child, and he was determined to be prepared.

The mess of scars that was still there, under the ink, was ugly, disgusting. But Tony had designed and planned the tattoo carefully before putting needle to flesh, and had done an astonishingly good job and distracting the eye from the marks of past trauma.

Wanda slept through the outburst, but Clint and Natasha were both awake, and staring at Tony's chest. He sighed, not wanting to explain. Surprisingly, they both agreed to put off the tattoo's story until the next morning, and all 4 of the bed's occupants were soon asleep.

However, the nightmares soon hit, fast, furious, and affecting every person in the house.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think and if there is anything you would really like to see with the characters or storyline. 
> 
> All errors are mine, oops.


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nightmares

Wanda was the first to wake up, and she woke up screaming. Her screams woke the bed's other occupants, who tried to calm the toddler. Natasha seemed to be making the situation worse, yelling at Wanda in Russian over the sound of screaming, so she was sent to do something else. “Literally anything else,” Tony told her, “eat peanut butter, get a drink, use bathroom, I don't care.”

Clint responded to the screaming by telling Wanda that they would get in trouble for making noise. Then he seemed to realize that Tony was right there listening and that the toddler didn't understand him, and looked up at the inventor guiltily before pulling out his hearing aids. Usually, Clint never slept with his aids, the foster system wasn't to big on comfort, but since getting the new ones from Tony, he barely noticed them and often forgot to take them out.

The 7 year old managed to fall back asleep with his head under a pillow; Tony was afraid he would suffocate himself though he knew that was not usually an issue at Clint's age. Rocking Wanda back and forth gently and whispering soft words in every language he knew, Tony eventually got her to calm down a bit. First, the screams turned into sobs, which then got quieter and she fell asleep, still crying in Tony's arms.

At that point, Natasha returned, smelling like peanut butter, and the inventor resisted the urge to send her to brush her teeth. He put a sleeping Wanda into the 5 year old's arms and left the room to address the wailing that was coming from Steve and Bucky's room.

It was Steve. The little boy was tangled up in his sheets, crying and calling out for his mother or Tony intermittently. Bucky knelt by the side of his friend's bed, attempting comfort, with minimal success. Being too tired to maintain distance, physical or emotional, Tony gathered Steve in his arms. “I'm here,” he said soothingly, “it's all going to be okay... somehow.”

“Bucky's d-deeeeaaaad,” Steve wailed.

“No he's not,” the inventor assured, “Bucky is right here,” he motioned for Bucky to join them.

Steve look disbelievingly at his friend. “B-but he died,” the 6 year old sniffled, looking up at Tony, “he fell from the t-train and he diiiieeeed!”

“Bucky is here, okay?”

Tony arranged the two in bed together and returned to his own room where Clint and Wanda seemed to be sleeping peacefully and Natasha was still wide awake. The inventor slid into the spot left for him between the kids. “Go to sleep now,” he murmured.

Natasha was next. She didn't scream or cry, just poked insistently until he woke up. “What is it, 'Tasha?” he asked blearily.

“You're real,” she murmured disbelievingly, “you were covered in metal and falling from the sky, but you're here and you're real...”

“I'm real,” he agreed, “it was a dream, you don't have to worry.”

“Did you die?” she asked, “when you hit the ground did you die?”

“No,” he told her, closing his eyes, “I almost died, but then I didn't. Go to sleep, we can talk about this later.”

Clint woke up only 45 minutes after Natasha and Tony had gone back to sleep. He was shivering and crying a little. “You're okay,” Tony muttered, still mostly asleep.

“It's all blue and cold,” Clint said.

“What?”

“It's blue and cold and there's someone in my head.”

“He's not there anymore, Clint. He's all gone.”

“Did you kill 'im?”

Tony was almost fully awake, “no, I didn't kill him. But I chased him off and I won't let him get back in your head. I'll keep you safe, kiddo,” he said, hoping he would be able to do so.

“If I go to sleep again, will he come back?”

Tony hated straight out lying, but for the sake of getting small children to sleep, he figured a small fib would be okay. “No, he won't come back. Do you remember Thor?”

“Uh huh...”

“Thor took the bad man who was in your head and banished him from the whole planet.”

“Woah... So he's on Mars?”

“No kiddo, he's a little further away than that. Now go to sleep.”

Tony reached over and tucked another blanket tightly around Clint. He remembered how hard it had been for the archer after New York, and he couldn't imagine a 7 year old even dreaming about that kind of experience.

20 minutes later, Tony was on the cusp of sleep, only to be interrupted by Bucky entering the room with Steve in tow. Gently detangling himself from the 3 children already in his bed, the inventor sat up. “What?” he asked tiredly.

“I had a nightmare,” Bucky whispered as he tucked Steve in next to Clint.

Coming to kneel on the bed facing Tony, the child continued. “I think I killed someone. I didn't want to, I promise.... but then I killed him anyway.”

“It was a dream,” the exhausted inventor improvised, “you weren't in control of your mind, but now you are. It's gonna be okay. Now go to sleep.”

Bucky settled next to Steve, and for 3 hours there was relative peace.

Sam, the only child not sharing Tony's bed yet, woke up alone and crying. Remembering where he was, he tiptoed down the hall, checking in each room for the others only to find their beds empty. As his panic increased, Sam entered Clint's room. To his relief, Lucky was asleep in his box.

Gathering the puppy in his arms, Sam continued down the hallway, finally entering Tony's room to find every other occupant of the house asleep in one bed. Sam poked Tony awake. “Can I come in?” he asked, though he was already most of the way onto the bed.

“Sure, Sam. What's up?” Tony asked blearily.

“I had a nightmare,” the child reported, “I had wings and it was awesome and then one of the wings got broken or something and I was falling.”

“It's over, kiddo,” Tony murmured, “climb in, everything will be okay.”

 

* * *

 

It was 5:00 AM when Tony woke the kids up with the tossing and turning caused by his own nightmares. The usual ones were horrible but expected, Afghani caves and what happened inside them, those he trusted ripping out his heart, wormholes in the sky, Ultron's success, Wanda's magic in his mind, the shield crushing his chest...

But the dream that woke them all up that morning involved “ghosts” to whose death, Tony contributed. They told him all the things that he told himself, but that wasn't surprising given that they were manifestations of his subconscious. Still, dreams seem real while you're having them, right?

“It's your fault.”

“You could have done more.”

“I trusted you to help me... you failed.”

“Murderer!”

“Villain!”

“Do the world a favor and kill yourself!”

Under normal circumstances, Tony would have woken up alone and spent a solid 30 minutes trying to pull himself from his own thoughts enough to get out of bed. Sometimes, he lost the battle and lay there staring at the ceiling for hours. Fortunately, being given 6 children and adopting a dog, all of whom had migrated into his bed, had woken up something in side him, something that all good parents have: the mysterious ability to quickly put everything aside for the sake of the kids.

Tony squinted at the clock for a minute before relaxing back into the bed and closing his eyes to focus on his other senses.

> Soft hair against his shoulder and warm breath on his neck: Natasha, present and accounted for.
> 
> Light weight sprawled across his stomach and lower chest: Wanda, still asleep.
> 
> Warm pile by his left foot: Clint, half falling off the bed.
> 
> Soft voice asking for breakfast: Bucky, awake and hungry.
> 
> Poking sensation on his left shoulder: Steve, bored and impatient.
> 
> Gentle breathing and the ruffle of a paper book to the right: Sam, reading as always.
> 
> Cold, wet nose settled in his the palm of his left hand: Lucky, so much for rules.

“Okay, kiddos, let's get some breakfast,” Tony murmured, opening his eyes.

Wanda remained asleep on top of the inventor while the rest climbed out of bed. The journey to the kitchen took far longer than one might have expected given that the house wasn't all that large. Wanda woke up and wanted to remove all her clothes, Bucky had to go get his arm, and Sam wanted to change out of his pj's.

By the time everyone was settled around the table, it was 6:20 and Tony was silently fretting over the day ahead. He'd given up caring about the spilled milk and cereals and juice, but he still had to clean them up.

Having kept the kids inside the day before, Tony could feel them getting fidgety. After what had happened the last time, the inventor was reluctant to let them play outside, he knew it wasn't logical, but that didn't change anything. By 7:00 AM, Clint, Bucky, and Steve were bouncing off the walls, Wanda was running around in nothing but a pull-up, and Natasha had disappeared again. Even Sam couldn't sit still; instead of reading, the 12 year old moved from one activity to another every few minutes.

Tony didn't know what to do. Luckily, he just needed to get them dressed and get their teeth brushed before Darcy came over; he had other parental-esq duties to perform. Sending Clint and Sam out with Lucky, Tony sent the other children to get dressed before switching so that Bucky and Steve were out trying to train the dog, and Sam was dressing Wanda.

By the time everyone had finished dressing and doing their morning ablutions, it was almost time for Darcy to arrive. Tony had explained what was going on, but the kids were still understandably nervous about being left in the care of a stranger. The inventor wouldn't do it if he didn't have to, but May Parker was not someone who tolerated her guests missing dinner.

Natasha twisted Tony's favorite London Calling t-shirt between her fingers while Clint was biting his nails and Bucky was picking at the plates of his metal arm. They all heard the sound of someone climbing up the steps, and before they knew it, Darcy had entered. _Of course she didn't ring the doorbell. Why would anyone do that?_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think - I live on feedback and black tea.
> 
> Also, a just posted the 1st chapter of the companion fic that was requested (written from the kids POV)


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not updating sooner. I've been in a bad place for the last few weeks.
> 
> I hope you enjoy.

Darcy Lewis entered the seemingly peaceful suburban home to find her favorite genius billionaire philanthropist (the playboy was long gone), 6 children and a puppy. Jane had told her that Tony needed a babysitter, but apparently the astrophysicist hadn't meant 'Tony's been science-ing and forgetting to eat and sleep and bathe.' Darcy did consider the possibility that Jane had no idea whether a scientist-babysitter or a legit child-babysitter was needed.

Before her were 6 slightly messy children and 1 very messy inventor. Tony had toothpaste on his cheek, soap stains on his shirt, water soaking through most of his right sleeve and the knees of his pants, and various food and drink stains all over. His hair was sticking out in odd directions, and one bit even had a pink barrette holding it back. Darcy couldn't help but snap a picture with her phone before he had a chance to object.

The youngest child was wearing nothing more than a pullup and only half of her hair was tied up in a ponytail. She was sucking her thumb and peering out at Darcy from behind Tony's leg.

A child around the age of 5 was also holding on to Tony. Judging by the firey color of her hair, it was Natasha. She wore a too-big London Calling t-shirt and leggings, her hair falling in gentle curls past her shoulders.

A skinny blonde child, presumably Steve, was clutching the hand of an older boy, probably Bucky. He had an ace bandage wrapped tightly around one wrist, but otherwise seemed intact and completely dressed, though only about a third of his shirt was tucked in. The older kid had a metal arm which he quickly his under a sleeve when Darcy entered. He looked mostly clean, but his hair could have used some brushing and something to pull it out of his face.

A kid slightly older than Steve, Clint, she deduced by process of elimination, was hiding in the room's back corner. He had food on his face and his socks didn't match, but otherwise he seemed relatively okay. In his arms was a squirming puppy, trying to lick the food off of Clint's face.

Finally, Darcy's gaze settled on the oldest child, clearly Sam because she had spoken with Rhodes recently. He was sitting on the couch away from the others, fidgeting with the corner of a comic book and bouncing 1 knee.

“Darce, you are a lifesaver!” Tony exclaimed, moving to hug her until he remembered the children attached to his hand and leg.

“6 kids?” Darcy asked as calmly as she could.

“I'm sorry. I need to go to this science fair and dinner thing. I'll be home as soon as I can.”

She nodded and he detached himself from the girls, grabbing the bag on the table beside the door. Just as he was about to open the door, Darcy spoke up. “I would change before going out in public,” she advised.

Tony threw her a smile and made a 180, heading towards his bedroom.

 

* * *

 

 

Even Darcy, the master of doing flawless makeup in a short amount of time, was impressed by Tony's reappearance 7 minutes later. He had brushed his hair, shaved, changed into a suit and tie, and magicked away the dark circles beneath his eyes.

“What do you think?” he asked, twirling in a circle.

Natasha giggled, Wanda clapped, Steve and Bucky looked confused, Sam was smiling, and Clint had disappeared. Darcy, of course, had her camera out. Tony posed until she was finished; he might have been traumatized, stressed, angry, and a never before seen level of messed up inside, but he was still Tony F-ing Stark.

Handing over Steve's inhaler and the appropriate keys and confiscating Darcy's tazer, Tony counted heads. Coming up 2 short, he sighed; the role of worn out singled dad came surprisingly easily to him. “Clint! Lucky!”

The two came bounding in and then it was time for goodbye hugs. Sam was first, wrapping his arms awkwardly around Tony's body before immediately scampering away. Bucky and Steve each gave the inventor half-hugs, and Clint was very cautious with his, curling his hands into his chest, tucking his chin, and pressing against Tony's stomach. Natasha effectively climbed the inventor until her legs were wrapped around his waist, her arms crossing each other over his back, and he was struggling to avoid taking a mouthful of red hair. Last came Wanda who Tony scooped up, pressing her to his chest. She hugged him back tightly, almost refusing to be put down.

Grabbing his briefcase, Tony left the house. Through the closed door, he could hear Wanda begin to wail. It was all he could do to keep walking.

 

* * *

 

“Spider-ling!” Tony greeted, coming up behind Peter.

The boy turned from where he was thanking the 300th or so person to congratulate him on winning the Intel STS competition. “Mr. Stark!” he exclaimed.

“Shhh, not so loud,” Tony put a finger to his lips, “we can't have anyone knowing who I am. What would they think?”

Peter laughed, accepting the hug that the inventor offered. “It's really great to see you, Mr. Stark. I didn't think you were coming, what with you hiding in suburban Massachusetts.”

“I wouldn't miss it, Peter. I'm proud of you,” Tony ruffled the kid's hair, “It's only an hour and a half flight from Boston to D.C.. Plus, your Aunt May would have killed me if I didn't.”

“Does that mean you're coming out to dinner with us?”

“If you'll have me, good sir.”

“This is the best day ever! Aunt May and the competition and Liz and you...”

“Hold up a minute. Who is this Lisa?”

“It's Liz, not Lisa. Anyway, she's a girl from school. She's super pretty and smart and she texted me today!”

Tony chuckled. “I'm going to investigate this Liz character,” he said, “to make sure she's not a bad influence on you.”

“Tony!”

“Fine; I'll leave her alone for now. But I'd better meet her before you even think about a 3rd date.”

“We haven't been on a 1st date yet,” Peter was blushing bright red.

The inventor nodded sagely. “I'll go hang out with your Aunt. When you're ready, we'll take you out. Who knows, I might get to a 3rd date before you're ready to go.”

“She's my Aunt!”

“Understood,” Tony clapped Peter's shoulder before moving off to stand with May where she was observing the room; maybe later he would go pay attention to some of the other finalists.

 

* * *

 

 

Dinner was a joyous affair, celebrating Peter and his intellectual accomplishments. There was some playful ribbing about Liz, 1 mention of Tony staying in Boston, but otherwise, conversation remained light.

May asked Tony to stay the night so he could have breakfast with them the next morning before they returned to Queens. Reluctantly, he declined. Tony would have loved to stay, but even as he enjoyed May and Peter's company, he couldn't help thinking back to the kids.

He knew that Natasha wouldn't sleep without him present, Wanda would only pass out after crying herself to exhaustion, and Clint would immediately decide that he'd been abandoned again. Tony had made a promise to be back that night, and he intended to keep it.

And then there was the matter of Darcy's care-taking. He wouldn't have left the kids with her if he didn't trust her with their safety, but he was concerned about the safety of the house; Darcy wasn't known for orderliness or control.

Sure enough, when Tony returned from the Logan airport, he found all the kids awake, hyper, and covered in glitter.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment and let me know what you want to see (things that I can work into my current plotline that is)


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry it took me so long to update; this is a kinda long one though, so i hope that makes up for it.
> 
> For the commenter who wanted more Russian, here you go, I'll try to keep integrating it.
> 
>  
> 
> *And for all my US readers, remember that its supposed to be a government "by the people, for the people, of the people" or something like that. Stay strong, somehow it WILL work out.

Why did it have to be glitter? The herpes of arts and crafts. Why?

That is what Tony was asking himself as he entered the house. Glue, paint, stickers, crayons, all that he could deal with, but glitter... that stuff was impossible to get rid of. As fate would have it, and because the universe liked playing tricks on him, the door hadn't even shut before Tony was lovingly attacked by glitter-covered children.

Natasha was first, practically flinging herself into his arms. She had glitter stuck to her arms and hands for the most part, but some had made it into her hair and there was a bit on her cheek. She appeared happy to see the inventor, but there was something off about the look in her eyes that caused Tony to make a note to talk to her later.

Sam, it seemed, had lightened up a bit, and he was patiently holding Wanda who was busy rubbing the glitter on her fingers into his hair. As soon as she saw Tony, the little girl made to dive out of Sam's arms, reaching out and calling her approximation of the inventor's name which sounded like “Tawney”

Steve and Bucky were probably the cleanest of all the children. Steve only had glitter stuck to his fingers, and it appeared at though he had spent his time decorating Bucky's metal arm with intricate patterns. Apart from the arm, Bucky was relatively glitter-free, only a bit stuck to his forehead. Both kids were eager to greet Tony, though the older held back a bit as his friend ran at full speed towards the inventor.

Clint was more reserved than the others, standing next to Darcy, patiently waiting to see if he would get a share of the affection which Tony was offering the other kids. He had glitter covering his hands and a fair amount had made it onto his shirt as well.

Darcy was covered in glitter herself, but somehow it seemed artful and intentional. Different colors and concentrations of the stuff had been used as eye and lip makeup and to accentuate her cleavage, not that it needed any accentuating.

Soon, Tony's jacket and face were glittering too, more rubbing off on him each time he hugged one of the kids. All 6 were bouncing off the walls, figuratively for the most part, though Clint and Natasha were quite literally doing so.

“What did you feed them?” Tony demanded.

“We had ice cream and cookies and lollipops!” Steve answered jubilantly.

“I gave them a real dinner first,” Darcy assured him.

Tony didn't really care what a “real dinner” consisted of by Darcy's definition. No anaphylaxis and no rashes or hives meant that nutrition could wait for later.

 

* * *

 

“Don't even think about it, Darce!” the inventor called when she tried slipping out the door, “you're helping with clean up.”

She returned sheepishly, taking Wanda from Sam, “I'll do bathtime,” she offered, holding out her free hand to Natasha.

Before the little red head had a chance to protest, Wanda was yelling, “no!” one of the only English words she knew.

“I guess that means I'm doing bathtime,” Tony announced triumphantly, “Natasha and Wanda, you're with me, everyone else with Darcy doing cleanup. Whatever mess you made while I was out should be gone by the time Darcy leaves.”

Tony gathered the two girls and led them towards the bathroom that had the largest tub, while Darcy reluctantly herded the boys into the kitchen where the majority of arts and crafts activities had taken place.

Going through the cabinets, Darcy ended up supplying the boys with rags and soapy water to help her with cleaning. Sam was a quick learner, copying Darcy's motions immediately and cleaning very effectively. Steve wasn't much help at all, but it was clear that he was really trying. Bucky sat at the table by himself, looking sadly down at the metal arm which he was trying to clean with a wet paper towel. Clint, it seemed, had a decent amount of experience with cleaning floors, walls, and furniture, which was as helpful as it was sad; Darcy had been informed why exactly the child was so helpful and easy going.

 

* * *

 

Tony took his time bathing the girls; he wasn't interested in cleaning up the glittery mess that he had no hand in making. First, the inventor gathered the girls' clothing, or in Natasha's case, his clothing as well, and sealed it in plastic. Both kids got into the bath at the same time, happily splashing around and before Tony could even start washing their hair, his dress shirt was soaked through. Still, he kept it on, only rolling up the sleeve. If it weren't for the mess of scars and tattoos across his chest, Tony would have had no qualms about going shirtless to save himself extra laundry, but he didn't want Natasha to start asking questions again.

A delighted, “дядя!” brought the inventor back to reality. He took a moment to appreciate the little redhead calling him “uncle,” before joining the girls in their appreciation of the purple bubbles that some spilled shampoo had caused. Since the NoTears Shampoo For Kids had spilled over the edge of the tub, Tony simply put the bottle on the away and used what was already out of the bottle to wash Wanda's hair.

Soon, the little girl was rubbing her eyes and leaning against the side of the tub sleepily. Tony pulled her out and toweled her off, trying not to be concerned by the lack of fight she put up. After the other baths he'd given her, she had wanted to do the drying off part herself, and the inventor was having difficulty believing that the only reason for the change was exhaustion.

When Wanda pulled 2 more towels off the rack and curled up with them on the floor, Tony gave up on trying to brush her hair or put her in pjs for the moment, and he turned back to Natasha who was trying to get his attention. “Что это, котенок?” he asked.

Tony wasn't fluent in Russian, but he had begun learning the language when Natalie Rushman walked into his life, so he was pretty good. Not understanding what was being said around or about him bothered the genius.

“Можно ли лечь спать?” Natasha asked him, “пожалуйста?”

“I'm sorry, котенок. I have to get everybody else clean and into bed before I can sleep.”

She nodded, and instantly Tony felt horrible; seeing reluctant acceptance on such an adorable young face caused pain in a part of his heart that he didn't know still existed. “Unless you want to sleep by yourself,” he offered hesitantly, hoping for her sake that she said yes, but also secretly wanting her to say no.

“Нет,” she replied immediately, tears gathering in her eyes.

“I'll be as quick as I can, okay? You don't have to be by yourself. помните, что вы никогда не одиноки. До тех пор пока я жив, я буду заботиться о вас.”

 

* * *

 

When Natasha was mostly glitter-free, wearing her ballerina nightgown with her hair in a simple braid, Tony sent her to go help Darcy while he put Wanda to bed. She didn't fuss as he dressed her and tucked her in, only whimpering a little when he moved to leave. “Petro,” she murmured, hugging one of the stuffed animals.

Tony guessed that she was calling for her brother, and while he would have liked to stay, he had 4 other children to de-glitter and 6 people to put to bed.

 

* * *

 

Venturing into the kitchen, Tony found that Darcy and the kids had done a remarkable job of cleaning up their mess. That being said, there were still piles of dirty dishes in the sink and traces of glitter on every visible surface.

Bucky's arm was glitter-free by the time the inventor saw it, and Steve had been bathed, presumably by his friend. Clint and Sam had yet to bathe, but both wanted to do it by themselves. Usually, Tony would have been okay with that if not grateful for it, but his confidence in their de-glittering skills was lacking.

Leaving Darcy to tuck Steve and Bucky into bed, Tony moved to the hallway, halfway between the bathrooms being used by Sam and Clint, to supervise and be available to help if needed. As expected, Natasha followed him.

Holding the girl tightly in his arms, Tony felt a twinge of guilt for not putting the two miniaturized super-soldiers to bed personally. He recognized that the children had no idea about what had happened between the genius and their adult selves, but he was still struggling to face Steve's questions about the bedtime stories that were effectively PG accounts of the Avengers' past.

Thankfully, both Steve and Bucky seemed to like Darcy quite a lot, and were tired enough to accept and fall asleep to her story about a princess going to rescue a prince from a dragon but instead making friends with the dragon and roasting the prince for dinner.

Once all the children except Natasha were asleep, Darcy left. Tony tried to convince her to stay, offering to make up a bed like the good host he was, but she declined, saying that she had a date. When the inventor gave her a skeptical look, indicating the clock which read 10:00 PM, she laughed. “I thought I didn't have a curfew anymore, Dad!” she joked.

“Be safe,” Tony replied, pulling her into a one armed hug.

Soon after that, the genius found himself in his own bed, with Natasha curled into his side, her head on his shoulder. It was late enough that she didn't want to talk, falling asleep immediately.

“Спокойной ночи, котенок,” he whispered into her hair.

Thoughts floated through Tony's head as they do on the edge of sleep. The last thing he remembered was thinking about how, despite all the clean-up and the baths, there would be glitter between the sheets of every bed come morning. For some reason, he couldn't bring himself to care.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think! Comments fuel my creative juices.
> 
> I'm trying to update my other fics as well, but it's slow going cause I'm short on inspiration.
> 
> Here are the translations in order (I think):  
> дядя = uncle  
> Что это, котенок? = What is it, kitten?  
> котенок = kitten  
> Можно ли лечь спать? = Can I go to bed?  
> пожалуйста = please  
> помните, что вы никогда не одиноки. До тех пор пока я жив, я буду заботиться о вас. = Remember that you are never alone. As long as I'm alive, I'll take care of you.  
> Спокойной ночи, котенок = Goodnight, kitten


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Breakfast, art, and a new friend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry! This took way longer than it should have, I've been busy. You can thank the snow for me actually getting this done.
> 
> Translations and Acronym explanations are at the end. 
> 
> Thank you for your patience.

When Tony woke up, Natasha was gone. In fact, Tony didn't feel the presence of anyone besides the puppy who was enthusiastically licking his face. Gently moving Lucky to the side, the inventor sat up, immediately awake and panicking; there were no children in his bed which was decidedly out of the normal. Well... the “new” normal, anyway. As it turned out, panic was even more effective than caffeine in getting Tony to wake up, though it was considerably less pleasant.

“Tasha,” he called tentatively, “Clint? Bucky? Sam? Steve? Wanda?”

The only response that Tony received was a small bark from Lucky. Putting on an old MIT sweatshirt, the genius ventured out of his room with the puppy at his heels. As he approached the kitchen, a wave of relief washed over him; he could hear young voices and the none-too-gentle clatter of dishes. “Good Morning, kiddos,” Tony said, entering.

They all turned around in surprise having not heard him coming. All of them except Natasha; even as a child, she just didn't _do_ surprise. “I wanted to make breakfast for you,” Steve explained, stepping sideways to hide the largest spill on the counter.

“That's nice of you,” Tony replied at the same time as Sam pointed out, “you don't know how to cook, stupid!”

“Sam!”

“Sorry,” the boy stared at the floor, “Sorry Tony. Sorry Steve.”

“Thank you for apologizing, Sam,” Tony tried to temporarily ignore how immediate and fearful Sam's reaction had been, “try to remember that regardless of an individual's actual intelligence, it is never a good idea to call someone “stupid” to their face. Okay?”

“I understand,” Sam muttered.

“I don't!” Steve interjected.

“It's alright not to understand things sometimes, Steve,” Tony dismissed the topic, noticing Bucky and Clint attempting to clean the counters, “let's all help clean up.”

Steve and Sam reluctantly joined the cleaning effort, while Wanda continued playing with the egg the had been smashed on the floor and Natasha watched from the corner. Tony picked up Wanda, placing her on the kitchen table, “Tasha, please wipe up the egg,” he requested.

Natasha did as she was told and helped with the cleaning while the genius removed Wanda's now-egg-covered pjs. He was thankful that her stuffed lemur hadn't attended breakfast and was therefore probably clean. Finding that the toddler wasn't wearing underwear or a pullup and hadn't made a mess, Tony guessed that one of the other kids had taken her to the bathroom after she woke up, and he felt a swell of pride.

It took a while, but eventually, Wanda was in underwear and the kitchen was clean enough for Tony to make breakfast for the kids. First, he made coffee for himself, and then he turned to the kids who were sitting around the table. Then, he made the first mistake of many that he would make that day. “So, what do you want for breakfast?”

“B-rec-fa-st,” Wanda sounded the word out.

“Oatmeal,” Steve suggested.

“колбаса,” Natasha offered.

“Pancakes?” Sam asked tentatively.

“Corn flakes,” Bucky's voice was nearly overpowered by the others'.

Clint didn't answer. From what Tony had figured out about the archer's past, the kid probably considered himself lucky to get actual breakfast at all. “Okay,” Tony sighed lightly, “I don't have колбаса for you, котенок. Sorry. I do have corn flakes, Bucky, though they probably aren't what you are used to. Oatmeal and pancakes are both things I can do. Who wants what?”

“Oatmeal!”

“Pancakes?”

“Oatmeal...”

“Pancakes.”

“I've got two oatmeals and 2 orders for pancakes. Wanda darling, you will be having pancakes, alright? Clint? What would you like to eat?”

The kid stared up at Tony for a long moment before answering. “I like pancakes,” he said softly, “but oatmeal is good too. Whatever is easiest.”

“2 oatmeals and 5 sets of pancakes coming up,” the inventor announced.

Lucky barked, pawing at Tony's leg. “That's 6 sets then,” he smiled.

As expected, breakfast was a messy affair, more so than usual due to the presence of syrup for the pancakes and brown sugar on the oatmeal. Wanda didn't eat much which concerned Tony, but he figured that skimping on meals couldn't be considered a real problem until it became a pattern.

Steve was thrilled by the brown sugar on his oatmeal, repeatedly commenting on both the sweetness and plentifulness of the meal. Natasha seemed content with her chocolate chip pancakes, though she only ate about ¼ of what was given to her, and Bucky with his oatmeal and accompanying plum slices. Sam was ecstatic. Tony thought that he might have heard the 12 year old whisper “no one ever says yes” disbelievingly. He made a note to give the kid some extra hugs; all the kids probably needed more hugging.

Clint was quiet, but he cleaned his plate and even asked for more. Since their arrival in the U.S., the 7 year old hadn't asked for anything, including food. Tony was overjoyed and immediately made extra plain, blueberry, and chocolate chip pancakes, just in case; if Clint liked them enough to ask for more, the inventor was going to make damn sure that there were always more available to him.

The maple syrup was a huge hit with the children, Clint, Wanda and Natasha, especially. Wanda and Natasha had likely never tasted maple syrup or imitations thereof before, and Clint had only ever experienced various versions of high fructose corn syrup given the cost of the “real” kind.

Unfortunately for Tony, the kids all got hyper very quickly, though he should have expected that. Piling the dishes in the sink for later, the inventor tried to wipe hands and faces, with minimal success. By the time he was ready to get the younger ones dressed and make decisions about the day's activities, Bucky was sort of wrestling with Steve, Sam was “shooting hoops” against the window with some balled paper, Clint was chasing Wanda around the coffee table, and Natasha was literally bouncing off the walls.

Tony felt bad interrupting the play, especially because Clint was actually engaged in a positive interaction with one of his “foster siblings,” so he took Natasha first. She appeared a little guilty to be caught having fun and the little girl followed him obediently to her rarely-used room. With a some encouragement, she chose black leggings and a light blue jumper embroidered with a ballerina. When the two returned to the living room, Wanda and Sam had disappeared, Bucky and Steve were still wrestling, and Clint was sitting on the couch staring at the Dr. Seuss book that Tony had bought for him.

Sending all three boys to get dressed, the inventor settled on the couch to brush and braid Natasha's hair, hoping that Sam was helping Wanda with her clothes.

“Is there still glitter in my hair, дядька?” Natasha asked.

“Немного, котенок,” he told her.

The young redhead was about to say something else when Wanda came bounding back into the room. Her hair was tied in messy pigtails and she wore a scarlet skirt with a brown shirt and stockings that made her slide a bit on the stained hardwood. She crashed into the couch, climbing up and jumping onto Tony's lap. Luckily, the genius had finished braiding Natasha's hair and was able to give the toddler's pigtails his attention.

Clint was the next to show up, coming in quietly and returning to his seat on the other couch to look at the pictures in the Dr. Seuss book with Lucky under one arm. Sam entered with his comic books and Bucky eventually returned, carrying Steve's art supplies with the metal arm and dragging the skinny blond behind him with the flesh one.

Seeing the drawing supplies, Tony had an idea. Passing out paper, he asked each of the kids to draw something, anything that they felt like. On Wanda's paper he sketched a few human figures, curious to see what she might do with them. He resolved to look at all the drawings later, and sat down on the couch, hoping for a little bit of peace.

Sam returned to his comic books very quickly, not thrilled about the drawing idea, and Clint went back to his book soon after, not wanting to draw but also afraid to finish first. The rest of the kids seemed pretty content and Tony was about to grab his tablet and check up on SI when his phone vibrated on the coffee table, a holographic video-chat screen opening before he could even accept the call. “Fri?” the inventor asked curiously.

“Dr. Banner was quite concerned that you missed the weekly meeting, Sir.”

Tony nodded, the AI had probably tried to remind him, but with 6 kids to look after, he couldn't remember. “Brucie!”

“Tony, thank god you're alive. I thought something might have happened. You didn't call,” the other scientist breathed a sigh of relief.

“I'm sorry! It's just with the kids... I've been really busy... Not that you aren't important... it's just that-”

“I'm not upset. Having kids is tough on... It was for my father, anyway...”

Tony sighed sympathetically, reaching out one arm to halt Wanda's attempt to dance on the coffee table and setting her on the floor, “Oh Bruce...”

“No. No pity. I want to hear about what you've been doing. How are the kids?”

“I think they're doing pretty well,” Tony replied, “Steve's a bit of a hassle, what with all the health issues and the stubbornness, and Sam's still a little withdrawn, but Clint has really been opening up lately.”

Wanda climbed onto Tony's lap, bouncing up and down and waving at Bruce. “This one is a joy as always,” the inventor smiled, “how have you been?”

The two geniuses talked science for a while, but eventually all the kids were getting restless, and Tony had to end the call. As they exchanged goodbyes and a few friendly jabs, Bruce mentioned that he was going to be away from electricity and all forms of communication for the next week or so, but promised to call as soon as he could. Tony wasn't exactly happy about not being able to reach his science bro, but one less thing to remember would probably be helpful.

The second the holographic video disappeared, all the kids began talking, suggesting activities for the day. Natasha and Clint both wanted to go to the park again, as did Bucky, while Sam suggested visiting the MFA and Steve wanted to stay home and continue drawing. Eventually it was decided that they would go to the MFA and then to park if they still wanted to after lunch.

 

* * *

 

The museum visit turned out to be fairly uneventful, excluding MBTA portion of the trip, and Tony found it quite relaxing. Steve was ecstatic about getting to see so many different kinds of art, and Sam had suggested the museum in the first place, so he was content as well. Natasha wandered around the exhibits while Bucky read every detail he could find about every single piece. Wanda's attention jumped from piece to piece, and she dragged Tony with her to look at them. Clint was the only child who didn't seem to really enjoy the trip; that being said, he didn't complain.

For lunch, Tony got them all settled around a large table in the cafeteria, making sure to sit next to Clint just in case the kid wanted to share an opinion. Sam's favorite exhibit was the one called _Megacities Asia_ , which was connected to several other exhibits, while Bucky was fascinated by _London and Edo Cities on the Rise_. Steve favored the museum's permanent collection, _Art of Europe_ , and Natasha particularly enjoyed the Photography collection. Wanda was unable to intelligibly verbalize her favorite part, but Tony was satisfied that she had enjoyed herself.

Clint was quiet the entire time, only speaking up when directly asked, but his knee bounced continuously throughout the meal. Upon pressing, he informed them that he'd been intrigued by the advertisements for upcoming performance art exhibits and events. Tony wasn't exactly surprised, as an adult, the archer was always fidgeting and moving around, never really taking the time to examine anything in its entirety. The inventor imagined that had been an issue in foster homes and probably school as well.

They left the museum after lunch, stopping by the gift shop quickly so that Tony could buy gifts that he would need for the future; he had to stop just giving people Iron Man and Avengers merchandise.

As promised, they went to the park on the way home. Steve promptly passed out in the grass next to Tony, and Bucky sat down beside his friend, the others running off to play. Predictably, Clint headed for the top of the tallest structure he could find and Sam found a game of pickup basketball to join. Natasha took Wanda to a sandbox area and stayed with her, much to Tony's surprise; sandbox play didn't seem like Natasha's thing, but he imagined that she had picked up a habit of caring for the younger girls at the Red Room.

Bucky remained quiet, sitting next to Steve and picking at the grass. For a minute, Tony was torn between trying to get the kid to open up and using the momentary calm to catch up on work, but he eventually gave in to his “parenting instincts.”

“Hey Bucky, what's up?”

The kid shrugged. “Just thinking,” he replied softly.

“About what?”

“We're in the future right? Some of the art at the museum was dated 2006....”

“Yeah. It's not exactly the 1930's anymore,” Tony cautiously confirmed.

“Does that mean science has made something to fix Stevie?”

The inventor actually had to think for a bit before trying to answer the question. He didn't want to lie, but he also didn't want to prompt additional questions for which there was no answer. “Well,” he began, “there are medications that could help him feel better and if he got sick we could probably avoid permanent consequences, but nothing exists to really 'fix' him, as you say.”

“Oh. Alright,” Bucky replied simply.

At that point, Steve woke up but he was still to worn out to be running around, so he and Bucky played near Tony, seemingly inventing a game involving throwing pebbles around.

Just as he was about to begin doing some SI work on his phone, Friday informed Tony of an incoming call from Wakanda. Though he panicked initially, the inventor calmed down significantly when it turned out the King T'challa was simply calling to check in, feeling a bit guilty for dumping the kids on Tony and taking no responsibility.

After the call, the park visit was uneventful, thankfully, and the kids were all pretty worn out by the time they arrived home. Tony hoped that their exhaustion meant that they would all sleep through the night, but he knew better than to get his hopes up.

“Everybody get washed up,” he instructed when they entered the house, “I'm gonna need some help making dinner,” he hoped the activity would both entertain the kids and keep any additional disasters from occurring.

Steve and Clint were given the job of taking Lucky out, and Bucky and Sam were both fairly content with helping Tony make pizza. Counting heads, the inventor realized that Natasha was missing, while Wanda was napping on the couch. Leaving Sam in charge of getting the cheese onto the pizzas and Bucky responsible for setting the table, Tony went to look for the little redhead.

 

* * *

 

“Tasha?” he called, checking his own bedroom before moving down the hall towards the one that she rarely used for anything.

Entering the room, Tony found Natasha sitting in the corner, clutching a moving ball of fur to her chest. She looked up when she heard him, immediately shooting him a stubborn glare. The inventor sighed, he'd let Clint keep Lucky, so in the interest of fairness, he felt obligated to allow Natasha to keep whatever creature she had decided to bring home. The child seemed to sense his surrender, and she loosened her arms enough for Tony to catch a glimpse of a one-eyed, three-legged kitten.

Not bothering to ask where Natasha had found the animal, Tony shook his head, chuckling internally at what a pushover he was. “What's her name?” he asked.

“Widow,” Natasha answered decisively, not offering an explanation.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> колбаса = sausage  
> котенок = kitten  
> дядька = Uncle  
> Немного = a little bit  
> MBTA = Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (public transit in and around Boston)  
> MFA = Museum of Fine Art (big art museum in Boston)
> 
> Thank you for reading, I'd love feedback!


	22. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pizza, misunderstandings, story-time, and nightmares.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took me so long to update. At least this one is fairly long, I think.
> 
> Part of the scene with Clint was inspired by a scene that occurs during chapter 12 of the fic "Something Shattered" by Thoughtstream. It is a well written fic, but be warned, it is not for the faint of heart nor those with nervous stomachs and gentle dispositions.

The pizzas got made and weren't burnt, which was more than Tony was expecting. The cheese was unevenly distributed as was the sauce, and somehow one of the pizzas came out of the oven with a bite already taken out of it, but the children were so proud of themselves that the inventor couldn't help but smile.

Despite Tony's best efforts, Lucky ate pizza for dinner alongside Clint, and Natasha refused to eat anything. In fact, getting her to the table was enough of a struggle that he didn't bother trying to impose rules about what Widow was allowed to eat. It seemed like he'd always be learning the same lesson over and over again: no matter her age, Natasha did whatever Natasha wanted and no one could stop her without significant bodily harm.

Sam was the most vocal child at the table, content to relate every detail of the museum exhibit to the group, despite his knowledge that they had all been there. Steve was also fairly animated and he engaged with Sam, constantly trying to bring Bucky into the conversation. Natasha sat dutifully at the table even though she refused to eat, and Wanda predictably got food all over herself. Clint, it seemed, had gone back to his habit of painfully small meals, which concerned Tony greatly, though he had no idea how to address the issue.

When everyone was finished, Tony sent Sam and Bucky to walk Lucky and left Steve, Clint, and Natasha at the table while he put Wanda to bed. When he returned, Steve was no where to be found, but the other two were actually speaking to each other in a civil and non-violent manner.

“Steve,” the inventor called, entering the living room, “are you there, buddy?”

“I'm here,” the child popped up from behind the couch holding the tissue box and a picture book.

“You disappeared. I was worried you had run off,” Tony was only half joking.

“Nope,” Steve replied with a small sniffle, “there weren't any tissues in the kitchen and I don't have a handkerchief or anything.”

“Okay, I'll put out more tissues for you. Do you want to continue reading your book or start getting ready for bed?”

Steve blew his nose and coughed slightly before replying, “I'm gonna wait for Bucky,” he announced, “and I wanna draw the things we saw at the museum before I go to sleep and forget them.”

“Alright,” Tony agreed, “before you go off and do that, tell me... are you feeling all right?”

“Just a sniffle,” the child replied, trading the picture book for his sketchpad and exiting.

Making a note to arrange a visit to the doctor, Tony returned to the kitchen to find Natasha sitting exactly where he left her, helping Widow drink from a small bowl of milk that had mysteriously appeared. Clint was clearing the dishes, slowly moving them from table to counter, one or two at a time.

“Tasha, why don't you go make a bed for Widow?”

The little redhead ran off, presumably to do so, and Tony moved to help Clint with the dishes. “You know, I don't expect you to do any more chores than anyone else, buddy,” the inventor said cautiously.

Clint froze. “Should I stop?”

“If you want to continue, I really appreciate the help. But you don't have to.”

The issue seemingly resolved, the two went back to clearing plates, cups, and silverware and loading the dishwasher. Tony was turned away, rinsing a particularly sauce-covered plate, when he heard the sound of glass shattering followed by a child's tears.

Apparently, Clint had gained a little confidence and was attempting to carry four glass cups when he lost his grip and subsequently dropped all of them.

Feeling only moderately guilty, Tony set Clint on the counter and for the most part ignored the crying child as he swept up the broken glass. Had it been a beaker in the lab that got smashed and had the inventor been alone, he would have picked up the shards with his bare hands, but a 7 year old without socks or shoes was present and watching. Tony had a nagging feeling that the kid wouldn't appreciate bloody, cut-up, hands and feet, plus there was that whole thing about being a good example or whatever.

As soon as Tony finished sweeping up the last few shards, Clint slid down from the counter, trying to school his expression and failing miserably. “Are ya gonna punish me, Mr. Tony?” he sniffled, his lip wobbling as he tried to hold back any additional tears.

Biting back his initial response, the inventor considered the situation. It wasn't ideal, but learning more about Clint might help him understand the child. Carefully, he crouched so that he was on the little boy's level; he wanted to reach out, but wasn't sure quite how that would be received.

“Do you feel that you need to be punished, Clint?” Tony asked, calling to mind the techniques that therapists in movies typically used.

“If y-you think so,” the kid refused to meet his eyes, “I'm not so good at knowin' when I've been punished enough; Mr. Adams said so.”

Tony closed his eyes for a moment, at a complete loss for what to do. Looking up, he saw that Clint was still sniffling but no longer on the verge of tears. Before the inventor had the chance to say anything, the child spoke again. “Y-you k-know best, Mr. Tony,” he whispered.

“Come here, buddy,” Tony extended an arm towards Clint, but waited for the boy to choose.

Clint moved forward hesitantly. The inventor could see the fear written in his wide eyes, shuffling feet and hunched shoulders. When the two finally came in contact, Tony hugged the de-aged archer tightly, feeling the child shake in his arms. Moving apart, the genius looked Clint directly in the eye. “Think about how you're feeling right now. Does it feel good?”

Clint shook his head, glancing at the floor before his eyes returned to Tony's face. The adult nodded, trying for an encouraging and sympathetic expression. “That feeling. That's punishment enough.”

The child nodded, but his expression betrayed his confusion. “How long?” he asked quietly.

“I don't have complete control over that, bud,” Tony replied, “I don't want you to feel bad anymore. Making that feeling go away is a two part operation. Part 1 is me forgiving you, which I have already, and part 2 is you forgiving yourself. I can't do that for you.”

Clint indicated that the message had been received, but he didn't reply. Knowing that there wasn't much he could do without further research, Tony stood. “I just heard Sam and Bucky get back. How about you go sit with Lucky for a bit,” he suggested, ruffling Clint's hair gently, “we don't have to finish this conversation right now.”

The child ran from the room and soon after, Tony heard an elated bark accompanied by a door closing. Bucky and Sam both headed off to prepare for bed, the former volunteering to take care of getting Steve into pjs. Using the rare moment of quiet, the inventor headed for his office.

“Fri, we're going to do some research, okay?”

“Certainly, Boss.”

“Figure out who this Mr. Adams is. All we know so far is that he came into contact with Clint at some point before age 8. Perhaps try Child Services' records first, but don't limit it to foster parents.”

“Will do. If I may, now would be an ideal moment to work on rebuilding big brother. That project is not something I can help with very much.”

“That's a great idea, honey,” Tony replied, turning to the closest monitor, “I've been so busy lately...”

“Quite understandably, Boss.”

The two of them worked for less than fifteen minutes before Tony had to leave; Steve and Bucky required a bedtime story.

 

* * *

 

“This is the story of the great war that Rikki-tikki-tavi fought single-handed, through the bath-rooms of the big bungalow in Segowlee cantonment,” Tony began, allowing Steve and Bucky to peer at the drawing before he continued.

“Darzee, the Tailorbird, helped him, and Chuchundra, the musk-rat, who never comes out into the middle of the floor, but always creeps round by the wall, gave him advice, but Rikki-tikki did the real fighting...”

“What's that?” Steve asked.

“What's what?” Tony countered, shifting to make room for Natasha (and Widow) in his lap.

“Rikki tikki tavi?”

“You'll just have to wait and find out,” the inventor sighed as Clint entered with Lucky by his side, leading Wanda with one hand.

Waiting for the 3 newcomers to get settled, Tony was pleased to observe that everyone was in their pj's and appeared clean enough for bed; he didn't have the energy to bathe anyone that night. Just as he was about to start reading again, the door creaked and Sam came in. The boy settled down on Bucky's bed next to Clint who was perched precariously on the headboard. Once everyone had made themselves comfortable, all the kids and both animals turned to look at Tony expectantly.

Chuckling lightly, he continued to read. “He was a mongoose, rather like a little cat in his fur and his tail, but quite like a weasel in his head and his habits...”

By the time he finished the second page, Clint, Lucky, Steve, and Wanda were all asleep, and Natasha, Sam, and Bucky, were rubbing at their eyes and yawning. Tony closed the book and set it on the night table. Carefully, extracting himself from the pile of children, the inventor tucked Wanda in beside Steve; he figured it wasn't worth waking her up to move.

“Do you mind sharing?” he asked Bucky in a whisper, looking pointedly at Clint snuggled up in the older boy's bed.

The 9 year old shrugged and detached his arm, placing it beside the book on the night table. He put his remaining arm around Tony briefly, in what might have been a hug, and proceeded to climb into bed beside Clint. Sam had already disappeared, back to his room hopefully, leaving only 3 more people to put to bed.

Somehow, Widow had managed to get into the pocket of Tony's MIT sweatshirt, and she refused to vacate it; Tony was too tired to fight the issue. Taking Natasha by one hand, he led her back to his room and lifted her onto the bed. “I'll be right back, котенок,” he promised, extracting Widow from his pocket and putting her down on the bed.

It didn't take him very long to change and brush his teeth, but by the time Tony returned to his bed, Natasha and Widow were both asleep. The next day he would regret the decision, but at the time, it seemed like a great idea to stay up and make some prosthetic parts for Widow.

 

* * *

 

 

As it turned out, Sam wasn't reading in his room or anything of the sort. When Tony entered the makeshift workshop he'd set up in the garage, the 12 year old was poking around in the various boxes of stuff leftover from the inventor's college years and subsequent visits. “Sam...” Tony tried to suppress his smile, “what are you doing in here?”

“Sorry,” the kid muttered, moving to stand in front of one of the open boxes, not the least bit apologetic.

Tony shrugged. “I'm building some prosthetics for Tasha's new feline friend. Wanna help?”

Sam nodded eagerly, nearly bouncing with excitement. “Can I?” he asked.

“Pass me that soldering iron,” the inventor instructed, gesturing at a tool in the box through which Sam had been rifling.

As the 12 year old pulled out the iron, Tony cleared off a work space and began to open up other boxes in search of materials. The set up process turned out to be longer than either of them had anticipated, especially with Tony explaining everything to Sam, and by the time the inventor was ready to begin any actual metal-work, the kid was yawning.

“Go to bed,” Tony instructed, not unkindly.

“But I wanna help...”

“It's time for bed, kiddo. You can help me later.”

Mumbling something unintelligible in protest, Sam headed for the door. Tony followed him, not returning to the garage until Sam was in his room. He remembered too many nights when he'd stayed up to “help” his father. They'd always ended in him saying or doing something stupid because he was tired and then getting in trouble for it. While it was apparently nothing compared to Clint's childhood, Howard Stark was not exactly the world's greatest parent.

Logically, Tony knew that Sam wasn't actually his son, but at the moment it was hard to make the distinction between temporary caregiver and parent, and he wasn't entirely sure that he wanted to do so. His feelings about the adult “heroes” hadn't changed and he wasn't about to go apologize to them after the curse ended, but for a split second, Tony entertained the idea that maybe he would have been a decent father.

The thought was soon dismissed, and the genius returned to the garage.

 

* * *

 

By the time 2:00 AM rolled around, Tony was still working, finishing the final details of the eye. He would need Widow present for exact measurements and adjustments as well as installation, but overall, he was proud of his work. For the first time in a long while, the inventor could say without a doubt that he was happy.

Of course, like anything good in his life, the happiness didn't last long. Sliding into his bed beside Natasha, intending on a quick nap, the inventor was hit with a flashback/nightmare of sorts the second he closed his eyes.

In the back of his mind, Tony knew that he was in the suburbs of Boston, in a comfortable bed, beside a de-aged Russian spy, but he couldn't pull himself back to that reality. He could feel Thor's hand, or maybe Loki's, close around his throat, and the heat from Killian's unstable extremis seared his skin. As Obadiah Stane's beard scratched at his neck, Tony forcefully retreated until he was pressed against the headboard and could move no further, half afraid that it would shatter and he would fall to his death.

He clawed at his neck, trying desperately to dislodge the ghost fingers that were choking him, but they just tightened their grip, cutting off his air supply. The wormhole made a sudden appearance, only instead of releasing the Chitauri into New York, it sucked people off the ground and out of the sky; Pepper, Rhodey, Happy, Peter and May, Harley and his sister, Phil and his ragtag family of agents, Bruce, Jane and Darcy, everyone. Then there was nothing.

Tony regained consciousness to find Lucky licking his face, all the children and Widow having piled onto the bed. No one said anything, the younger kids staying silent in confusion and uncertainty, while the older ones expressed concern and anxiety.

The inventor sighed and sat up as much as he could while not dislodging any of the bed's other 8 occupants. “Hey... I see everyone is already up...” he began.

Sam was the first to speak. “I'll make breakfast,” he volunteered, making to pick up Wanda.

The toddler squirmed away and whined in her own language until the older boy gave up and left the room without her. Satisfied that she would remain in the desired location for the time being, she quieted down, curling up in between 2 pillows.

“Kids,” Tony said slowly, “I'm sorry if that scared you. I'm alright, you have nothing to worry about. Go help Sam with breakfast.”

Steve did as he was told, pulling a very reluctant Bucky behind him, and Lucky followed them to the kitchen. Clint, Natasha, Wanda, and Widow remained in Tony's bed, though the de-aged archer did retreat to the furthest corner from the adult.

“Tasha,” the inventor instructed, “I want you to take Widow and Wanda to breakfast. I'll be there real soon.”

The red head shot him a glare, her dislike of the situation abundantly clear, but she did scoop up the kitten with one arm and the toddler with the other, heading for the door.

No longer completely trapped by the other occupants of his bed, Tony got up, only to be hit by a wave of dizziness and promptly sit back down. Clint's expression intensified, but he remained silent.

“Clint, I didn't mean to scare you. It was an accident. Everything is okay and I will come into the kitchen once I'm dressed, okay?”

Despite the presence of his hearing aids, the child showed no indication of having heard what the engineer was saying, and he remained in place, wide eyes roaming over Tony's neck. The inventor didn't know what the boy was staring at, but since there were no mirrors and no turtlenecks in the vicinity, there wasn't much he could do about it.

“Kiddo...” he reached out tentatively, “you still with me?”

Clint nodded, but didn't move otherwise.

“Do you think you can go have breakfast with the others?”

“What happened?” Clint asked, his voice barely a whisper.

“I'm just having a bad day, that's all,” Tony tried to explain in a kid-friendly manner but ended up just lying, “I'll take a quick shower and then it will be all better.”

The kid sighed, it was clear that he knew when he was being lied to. “Did I do something wrong?” he whispered.

“No, kiddo, it's not that,” Tony rushed to reassure Clint, “I promise. I just had a bad dream.”

“About what?” the little archer asked, hesitantly.

It seemed that Clint took something out of the Tony's lack of response. Sliding off the bed, he headed for the door, turning around momentarily to look at the adult and then rushing away.

“Boss,” FRIDAY spoke from his phone as the door shut behind the miniaturized archer, “Miss Potts has left several messages.”

“Is she okay?” Tony asked immediately.

“If I might play the recordings...”

“Of course, Fri.”

Tony's heart skipped a beat when he heard Pepper's voice for the first time in a while. He recognized that she “needed some time apart,” and he knew that she would dump him for good sooner or later, but he'd decided that Pepper choosing to remain part of his life was blessing enough.

“Tony, it's me... FRIDAY says that you're in Boston with a gaggle of small children.... How the hell did that happen? I saw the pictures... they are really cute, even the one that looks suspiciously like Agent Romanov, but are you sure that you're ready for this? Have the paternity tests come in? You say the word and I'll get someone from legal on the case... even if you do have the money for it and the generosity, don't let those kids' mothers dictate child support... they'll take you for everything you've got... I'm sorry, Tony, I know that you can handle yourself... it's just really hard when your not here, at home... do you think I could come visit? I understand if you say no...”

The voicemail cut off at that point, and FRIDAY displayed the text messages Pepper had sent following it. There were quite a few of them, but basically, the first one was the Stark Industries CEO asking to come over and visit, and the last one was her informing Tony that she was getting on a plane for Boston Logan and would arrive in 7 hours.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think


	23. Chapter 23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A trip to the zoo and a discussion of polygamy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not as long as I would have liked, but its still an update.

“Fri, sweetheart,” Tony addressed the AI, “that first voicemail is from a while ago... in fact the last text is the only thing remotely recent.... having you been blocking Pepper's calls.”

“She left,” FRIDAY justified.

“I understand. But baby, you can't be blocking her calls. She's CEO of Stark Industries, I need to be kept up to date on that stuff, I still own most of the the company.”

“I keep you informed, Boss” the AI wouldn't let the issue drop, “if it was important, I would have told you.”

Tony couldn't help chuckling, somehow he had actually managed to program a petulant teenager. “Fine,” he got out of bed, “You may block calls from whoever you like, with the exceptions of Pepper, Rhodey, Happy, Pete, Harley, and Coulson.”

“Boss...” FRIDAY actually managed to sound whiney.

“How about I let you block calls from Pepper and Coulson, but you have to tell me about it within 48 hours?”

“I accept your terms, Boss.”

As he walked into the bathroom, Tony understood why Clint had been so frightened; his neck was covered in scratches, some of which had tiny drops of blood oozing out. He ran a wet washcloth over his neck and then washed away any trace of blood under his fingernails.

It took a significant amount of rummaging through drawers, but eventually Tony found a scarf that he could wear inside without overheating. He looked like a total hipster wearing it, but that was better than the alternative. The inventor sighed and headed towards the kitchen, hoping there wouldn't be too much of a mess. Of course, there was.

Clint sat quietly on a chair with Lucky in his lap, while Natasha and Bucky played with Widow. Wanda had managed to get herself covered in flour and was making a mess of the floor, and Steve was drawing quietly. At the stove, Sam was making pancakes, spilled ingredients covering the counters.

“I have arrived!” Tony announced, entering.

Wanda jumped up at the sound of his voice, running over to give his leg a flour-y hug. Sam turned around briefly, but went back to flipping pancakes without comment. Steve looked up from his drawing and smiled pleasantly, holding up his picture for Tony to see. Bucky and Clint both ignored the inventor's presence, attention focused on their respective animal companions, but Natasha got up, coming over and grabbing his hand.

“Thank you, buddy. I'll do the rest,” Tony offered, gently taking the spatula from Sam, “why don't you get Bucky to help you with plates and silverware.”

When the younger boy didn't move to help, Sam made to set the table by himself. It bothered Tony that the kid insisted on being so responsible, but he wouldn't deny that it was very helpful. Still, he wasn't about to let Sam do chores while all the others played. “Bucky,” Tony put on what he hoped was a stern tone, “please help with the dishes.”

The boy pouted a little, but he did put Widow down and stand up to help. It didn't take Tony very long to finish making the pancakes, even though Natasha insisted on holding one of his hands the entire time. The inventor tried to get her settled at the table as the other kids began eating, but she refused, following him around as he cleaned the counters and floor.

“котенок,” Tony crouched so he was eye-level with Natasha, “please eat something. I'm worried.”

“я тоже,” she replied, bringing one hand to rest on his cheek, the other tugging ineffectively at his scarf.

(“me too,” she replied)

Sighing for what felt like the 100th time in 24 hours, Tony picked Natasha up and brought her over to the table. The inventor allowed her to sit on his lap for the entire meal, cutting his own helping of pancakes into bit sized pieces and feeding them to her when she wouldn't do it herself.

When everyone had finished, Tony sent Clint and Sam outside with Lucky and directed the other two boys to put the dishes and silverware in the sink as he wiped off Wanda's hands and face and pajamas. Soon, the inventor gave up on that task and scooped up the toddler in the arm that wasn't full of miniature assassin. “Bath time,” he announced.

It was fairly easy to fill the tub and plop Wanda into it, but Natasha decided to give him a hard time. First she refused to get undressed, then she refused to get into the bath and tried to escape the room while butt-naked, and then she refused to get in the water, instead perching on the sink counter.

“You don't have to take a bath,” Tony reminded the redhead, “you didn't eat enough to get sticky. But if you aren't going to, then go do something productive.”

The inventor didn't like the idea of sending away anyone who would willingly spend time with him, but bathing a sticky and energetic toddler took up almost all his focus; while doing research on children, Tony had learned that bathtubs with even a small amount of water can drown little kids. It didn't make much sense to him, but he wasn't taking any chances.

“Fine,” Natasha climbed down from the counter and into the tub, causing a splash that hit both Wanda and Tony.

The toddler giggled while the inventor wiped water off his face. Leaving Natasha to her own devices for the most part, Tony washed Wanda's hair, trying desperately not to get shampoo in her eyes as she wriggled out of his grasp. He was drying off the younger girl when Bucky entered, Steve not far behind.

“Hi boys. Thank you for taking care of the dishes.”

“Can we go play now?” Steve asked, jumping up and down, “I wanna go outside!”

“Bud, I don't want you outside without me or Sam for supervision. You're gonna have to wait a little bit.

“That's not fair!”

“Life's not fair, kiddo.”

Steve stood with his arms crossed, pouting, while Bucky picked up Wanda. “I'll get her dressed,” he offered.

“Thanks, Bucky,” the inventor moved out of reach of the toddler who wasn't happy to be leaving the room.

Once Steve had followed his friend out, Tony turned back to Natasha. “Okay,” he told her, “you have three choices: a) get out of the bath now, b) let me wash your hair, and c) wash it yourself. What do you want to do?”

“Can you wash it please, дядька?” the little girl seemed to have abandoned her recalcitrance.

Tony smiled at her. “How can I say no to that face?”

Taking the shower-head, the inventor got all of Natasha's hair wet, careful to avoid her face. He knew that it was unlikely that she'd ever experienced waterboarding type things, but he didn't want to risk it. When it came to the Red Room, it seemed like there was no limit to what might have been done to the girls. Pulling himself out of his thoughts, Tony shut off the water and began massaging shampoo into Natasha's hair. “Tasha...”

“Yeah?”

“You know that you can tell me anything, right? If you want to talk about something, I'm here...”

“Like what?” the child turned around to face him as Tony began to rinse off the shampoo.

“Well...” the genius wasn't sure how to have this conversation, though he thought it was an important one to have, “the place you were living before I... adopted you... The people there weren't very nice...”

“Oh,” Natasha seemed to shrink a little.

Tony opened the bottled of conditioner, squeezing a little into his hand. “You don't have to talk if you don't want to,” he assured her, “there won't be consequences, no matter what you decide."

For a few minutes, the two were silent. The inventor finished washing Natasha's hair and helped her out of the tub, wrapping her in a fuzzy towel. Eventually, the little girl spoke up. “Later?” she asked, “I don't want to talk about it right now.”

“Of course. Let's get you dressed and see what the others are up to.”

“Okay,” the redhead's voice regained its innocent and cheerful tone, but her grip on Tony's hand felt tighter than it had before.

 

* * *

 

Once everyone was dressed, they all gathered in the living room. “What are we going to do today? Steve asked, jumping up and down.

“I was thinking about taking you guys to the zoo. How does that sound?”

“Sounds good,” Sam replied.

Bucky nodded and Steve was speaking too fast for anyone to understand, but it seemed like he was on board with the plan. Wanda wasn't paying attention, but given her intense focus on the plastic animals in her hands, she would appreciate the experience, if not the car ride to get there. Clint didn't reply, but he smiled a little which was good enough for Tony. Natasha just readjusted her grip on his hand and when he looked down at her, she shrugged.

“The zoo it is! Everyone need shoes.”

As the boys each put on their own shoes and Sam put on Wanda's, Tony ran around the house, throwing things into a backpack. The covering to disguise Bucky's arm would likely go unused, but it couldn't hurt to bring it. Sunscreen and bug spray were obvious additions as were snacks, water bottles, tissues, and bandaids. Just in case, Tony also added a small toolkit and some duck tape because anything could happen.

Before they could leave the house, a huge problem presented itself. Tony hadn't even considered it, but apparently that was a glaring oversight on his part. “Clint, Lucky can't come with us, buddy.”

“Why not?” the child looked heartbroken, “I promise, he'll be good.”

“Look, kiddo,” Tony knelt so he was at eye level with the miniaturized archer, “Lucky is still very young and untrained, so we can't bring him out in public. He needs to stay here and keep Widow company.”

“Cats like being alone,” Clint protested, “dogs and cats can't be friends.”

“Just because a lot of dogs don't like cats and a lot of cats don't like dogs, doesn't mean that an individual cat can't make friends with an individual dog.... and even if someone values solitude, that doesn't mean they don't still need friends.”

“What does so-li-tu-d mean?” the little boy stopped arguing to sound out the word.

“It means... the state of being alone, but not necessarily lonely,” the inventor explained, “we can talk more about that later.”

“If Lucky can't come, then Widow can't either!”

“Agreed,” Tony followed Clint's gaze to Natasha who was trying to fit the kitten into her pocket using only one hand, “Tasha, Widow is staying here.”

The redhead pouted, but she did put the animal back onto the ground. “But she wanted to meet the big cats at the zoo.”

“When we get back, you can tell her all about them.”

Loading everyone into the car took a bit of effort, especially because Natasha wouldn't let go of his hand until all the other kids were seated and they were ready to go. Her shoes sat on her lap rather than on her feet, but Tony didn't feel like fighting that particular battle for a bit. “Fri, are you there?” the inventor asked, feeling rather cheerful.

“At your service, Boss.”

“Directions to Franklin Park Zoo, please.”

 

* * *

 

“Would you look at that,” Tony chuckled to himself, watching two emperor tamarins mating in one of trees.

“What?” Bucky asked, appearing at the inventor's elbow.

“Well if you look up there,” the genius pointed, “do you see those two?”

“Huh... what are they doing?” the kid frowned up at the primates.

“They're making baby emperor tamarins.”

“Ew!”

Tony laughed, “I suppose we should give them their privacy,” he said, “can you find any others?”

“There's a mama and baby,” Bucky replied, grabbing Tony's hand to lead the inventor over a few feet, “you see?”

“I do.”

Bucky wandered off to look at some of the other primates in the area, and Sam soon approached, practically dumping Wanda into Tony's arms. “Are they having s-e-x?” he asked in a loud whisper, pointing up at the pair that the inventor had been watching before.

“They are. When talking about animals, it's typically called 'mating.'”

“Oh.”

“You know, emperor tamarins were originally thought to be a monogamous species, but recent observations of them in the wild revealed a polyandrous system.”

“What does that mean?”

“Monogamous is when one animal only mates with one other. Polygamy is when one animal mates with multiple others,” Tony explained, “polyandry is a type of polygamy in which the female mates with multiple males.”

“Wow,” Sam stared up at the mating pair.

“Can you say that,” the inventor turned to Wanda who was balanced on his hip, “po-ly-ga-my.”

“Po-my,” the toddler tried.

“Close enough,” Tony adjusted her position so she had a better view of the tamarin enclosure.

“Why aren't humans like that?” Sam spoke up.

“Why aren't humans polygamous? Or why don't humans mate in public?”

“The first one.”

“Some are. Polygamy isn't as popular today as it used to be, but some cultures still practice it today. Several Muslim countries in the Middle East and in Northern Africa countries allow it. Every country has its own rules as do different religions.”

Sam stood still, absorbing the new information. At that point Tony's phone rang. “I need to get this, alright Sam?”

“Yeah, sure...”

“Boss, Ms. Potts is calling,” FRIDAY informed him.

“Put her through,” Tony replied, watching the kids from a short distance away, “audio only.”

“Tony.”

“Pepper.”

“I'm at the house, but apparently you are not.”

“I took the kids to the zoo. They seem to be having fun,” Tony shifted Wanda on his hip, but she stayed fast asleep and continued to drool on his shirt.

“Where's the spare key?”

“Yeah... 'bout that... there isn't one. We'll be heading back soon though.”

“Tony.”

“Pepper.”

“Just... come back soon, okay?”

“As you wish. Will that be all, Ms. Potts?”

“That will be all, Mr. Stark.”

FRIDAY took the liberty of ending the call at that point which turned out to be fortunate because at the same moment, Wanda woke up and started crying. Tony bounced the toddler on his hip, patting her back and trying to calm her as he simultaneously rounded up the other kids. “I wanna go home!” Steve whined.

“Well, you're in luck. That's exactly where we are going.”

“But I'm hungry,” Sam cut in.

“You said we could go see the birds again,” Clint added softly.

Wanda continued to cry. Tony sighed and continued to pat her back. “I'm sorry, Clint, I think we need to go home, but we will pass by some of the birds on our way out. Sam, we can get food on the way.”

Before leaving, they stopped at the gift shop to get more snacks and some souvenirs, including a hat for Bucky, a book about the mating habits of primates for Sam, a t-shirt decorated with several birds of prey for Clint, and a new sketchbook for Steve. Natasha claimed that she didn't want anything, and Wanda was asleep, so Tony also purchased a stuffed ocelot and a stuffed baby potto just in case someone got jealous or felt left out later.

In the car, the kids were mostly quiet, all of them had run off most of their energy. Wanda, Steve, Clint, and Bucky napped, but Natasha, and Sam remained awake. Tony was thinking about turning on some music when the oldest spoke up. “Are people allowed to marry a bunch of other people here? I forget the word.”

“The word is polygamy,” the inventor replied, “and it is illegal in the U.S..”

“So only Muslim countries allow it?”

“Not exactly. From what I know, polygamy is illegal in Europe and I'm not sure about South America or South East Asia. There are some countries that allow it only for the Muslim population even if the country itself is not strictly tied to Islam. By virtue of being primarily Muslim, most of the Middle East allows polygamy, Israel being the exception, though that gets a little complicated.”

“Where's that?”

“Between Egypt and Jordan,” Tony struggled to answer in a way that Sam could understand, “it's kind of where Africa meets the Middle East.”

“Why is it complicated?” Natasha interjected.

“Everything about the Middle East is complicated,” Tony sighed, “in Israel, polygamy is sometimes allowed in cases of infertility or mental disability, but for the most part it's illegal.”

“What's infertility?”

“It's when someone can't have children. Can we stop with the 20 questions?”

“Okay...”

Tony felt a little bad about being short with Natasha and no doubt he would pay for it later in some way, but he was tired and nervous, and trying to drive without killing himself, his passengers, or other drivers. He tried to imagine what Pepper was going to say when they arrived, but he just couldn't think of anything; she would probably yell at him and maybe cry afterwards. Tony wasn't sure he could deal with a crying Pepper on top of a resentful Natasha and a toddler who would probably wake up soon. Hopefully the CEO had brought food; he really didn't have enough energy to cook.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What will it be like having Pepper around?


	24. Chapter 24

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pepper's arrival and more nightmares.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally updated. Yay!

Wanda woke up shortly before they arrived back at the house, as did Clint, but Steve and Bucky were both still asleep when they pulled into the driveway. Focusing on waking everyone up and getting them out of the car, Tony pointedly avoided looking at the front porch where he knew Pepper was waiting. They hadn't seen each other in a very long time, but despite the gaping hole she'd left in his life, he was glad she came back.

“Who's that lady?” Clint asked, pointing at the porch, “is she gonna take us away?”

“Huh?” Tony helped a still-groggy Steve out of the car, “she's not a social worker, Clint. I told you that no one is coming to take you away.”

“Yeah, but that doesn't mean it's true,” the miniaturized archer grumbled.

The inventor chose not to respond, instead hoisting Wanda on his hip and throwing Sam the house key. Natasha grabbed his hand as soon as it was empty and held on to it as they all moved towards the house.

“What about the lady?” Sam asked in a loud whisper.

“She can come inside too,” Tony assured him.

Once inside the house, the genius set down his bag and Wanda, still unable to free his hand from Natasha's grip. He sent the boys off to get themselves changed into clothing that didn't smell like animals, and went to help Wanda with the task, inevitably taking the tiny redhead with him.

When freshly clothed Tony, Natasha, and Wanda entered the living room, Sam was on the couch with his nose in a book, Clint was playing with Lucky, Steve was drawing, and Bucky was cuddling Widow. Pepper sat in an armchair, observing the goings on with mild amusement while fielding suspicious glances from Clint every few seconds.

Wanda spotted her toys and toddled off to play and Natasha immediately got jealous when she saw Bucky with 'her' kitten, so Tony was left standing in the doorway by himself, unsure what to do or say. Looking at the scene before him, he couldn't help but imagine what life might have been like if he and Pepper were just a normal suburban couple with a ridiculous number of adopted kids.

Tony felt a little guilty for not greeting Pepper when they first arrived, but the feeling was quickly pushed aside. “Pepper,” he said, smiling.

“Tony,” she stood, walking over and wrapping her arms around him.

“It's been a long time.”

“I'm sorry, it's just with work and...” Pepper trailed off.

“You've been busy, I get it,” Tony, showman extraordinaire, hid his hurt so well that anyone other than the woman before him would have believed his words without doubt.

Pepper nodded, apologizing again. “I should have come sooner, I'm really sorry.”

“Did you bring dinner?” he changed the subject.

“Of course. It's takeout, but I couldn't exactly get into the house.”

“You are a goddess,” Tony pecked her cheek, heading for the kitchen, “mind watching the kids while I heat everything up?”

“Sure,” Pepper returned to the armchair.

Out of nowhere, a voice spoke from behind her. “Are you here to take us away?” the child asked.

“Clint?”

He nodded and Pepper did her best to smile kindly. She was pretty pissed off at his adult self, but was actively trying to suppress her feelings for the moment. “No, I'm not a social worker, Clint.”

“I don't believe you,” the little boy crossed his arms, moving to stand in front of Pepper while Lucky sniffed at her toes.

“Why not?” she reached down to scratch the puppy's head on to have him jump into her lap.

“If you aren't a social worker, then who are you?” Clint challenged.

“I'm a friend of Tony's,” Pepper replied, “I also run his company.”

“A special friend?”

“Yes, I'd say so.”

“Fine,” Clint accepted her answer, turning around, “let's go Lucky.”

The puppy jumped off Pepper's lap, eagerly following the little boy off to play. Wanda was the next to approach the CEO, dragging Steve along with her. “Hello Ma'am,” the blonde extended his hand, “my name is Steve Rogers and this is Wanda. She can't talk English.”

“Nice to meet you, Steve,” Pepper shook his hand, his adorable manners almost overcoming her well hidden fury at his adult self, “my name is Virginia Potts.”

“Nice to meet you too,” Steve walked away, but Wanda stayed.

Pepper and Wanda stared at each other for a moment, almost like they were sizing each other up. The CEO was beyond angry at the adult Wanda and not a fan of toddlers in general, but when the little girl eagerly handed her a plastic rhinoceros, she couldn't help smiling. Soon, Pepper found herself sitting on the floor, playing with the toddler and plastic zoo animals.

 

* * *

 

 

Dinner was chaotic as usual, but still a happy affair. The only kid who seemed to not be in the mood for smiling or speaking was Bucky. Tony wasn't sure exactly what was bothering him, but the inventor thought it might have to do with Pepper's presence. He'd read that kids sometimes took a while to warm up to strangers, or maybe FRIDAY had told him; either way, he wasn't particularly concerned.

“James hates me,” Pepper noted when the kids and animals went back to playing after dinner and only the adults remained in the kitchen, “or is he always this grumpy?”

“No it's definitely you,” Tony chuckled as he finished wiping down the tabletop.

“Thanks,” the CEO muttered sarcastically, clearing the last of the dishes.

“Where were you planning on sleeping tonight?” the inventor asked.

Pepper and Tony moved to a position where they could both sit and talk with some privacy while also keeping an eye on the children playing in the living room. “I'm not welcome in your bed then,” she concluded sadly.

“That's not what I'm saying,” he was quick to reassure her, “it's just that Tasha can't sleep by herself and lately all the kids have been joining us sometime during the night.”

“Why can't she sleep by herself?”

“Red Room stuff that you don't want to know,” Tony replied sadly, “let's just say we had to compromise.

“I can get a hotel,” Pepper pulled out her phone.

“I'm sorry, Pep,” the inventor smiled guiltily, “it's only till the end of the month. Then I take them back to Wakanda and they go back to being adults who want nothing to do with me.”

“What about the dog and cat?”

“Oh, I actually had an idea of what to do with them. Widow is obviously going to stay with me, but I was thinking about getting Lucky trained as some kind of service dog, maybe one of those heart-sniffers? How does one go about doing that anyway?”

Pepper looked up from the screen displaying her reservation at the nearest hotel. “Isn't that a bit... I don't even know what I'm trying to say. Why is it obvious that the kitten stays with you? Don't tell me you want to build her a suit.”

“Not exactly,” Tony's eyes lit up as he remembered his project, “but I've built some prosthetics for her. Check this out!”

Pulling out his phone, the inventor brought up the blueprints for spare cat parts. “She's my first subject, I'm not letting her out of my sight.”

“Tony...” Pepper began.

“It's not as complicated as you think,” the inventor rushed to say, “I'm not trying to tap into her nervous system or anything, it's all about muscles and sensory abilities.”

“Last time I checked, sensory abilities were directly connected the nervous system,” Pepper sighed, “fine. Keep the cat, we can figure this all out once you don't have 6 children.”

“We?” Tony asked tentatively.

“Yes,” she replied, “we. I'm not gonna make the mistake of letting you go again.”

The two shared a kiss before the CEO gathered her belongings and left for the hotel. It didn't take long for the kids to start yawning and Tony decided that everyone was going to bed early, himself included. Sam decided to stay up reading, and Steve insisted that the inventor read more of the book he'd begun as a bedtime story, but within forty five minutes, everyone was in their own rooms.

Unfortunately, the peace didn't last for long.

 

* * *

 

Sam was the first of the children to wake up with a nightmare. He crept quietly into Tony's bedroom, standing on the side of the inventor's bed where Natasha wasn't, and poking the man's shoulder until he woke up. “Sam?” Tony asked groggily, “what's up?”

“I had a nightmare,” the boy explained, “I didn't want to bother you, but...”

“It's okay kiddo,” the inventor shifted the sleeping redhead over so that he could make room for Sam on his other side, “why don't you tell me about it.”

“There was a man,” the twelve year old started, “I don't know who he was, but he was important.”

“Alright...”

“I was supposed to save him... but he fell out of the sky and I couldn't get there in time.”

“Oh,” Tony had done his research before the whole de-aging fiasco and he realized that Sam was most likely dreaming a memory of when his friend Riley died, “I'm sorry. That sounds like a pretty scary dream.”

Sam nodded. “I should have saved him. He died and it was all my fault.”

“That's not true. I'm sure you did everything you could to help him, but sometimes things just happen and they're out of our control.”

“I guess,” the kid sighed, “can I stay here for a bit?”

“Sure kiddo,” Tony replied, handing over a pillow, “stay as long as you want.”

The inventor was just about to fall back to sleep when the door opened again and Bucky entered with his blanket pulled around him like a cloak. “Nightmare?” Tony asked tiredly.

The kid nodded, climbing onto the bed without waiting for an invitation. “I remember how I lost my arm,” he whispered before beginning to cry.

Tony gathered Bucky into his lap without a word, letting the boy cry into his shoulder. At some point, Natasha woke up, noticing the new occupants of the bed. “You were in my dream,” she told Bucky, “but you were older and really mean.”

“I was older in my dream too,” the boy sniffled, “I fell out of a train. Stevie was there too but I think he was okay at the end.”

“Well if Bucky was older in both dreams that means that nothing can happen until he grows up so neither of you need to worry about it,” Tony reasoned.

The boy seemed to accept the logic, but Natasha didn't. I wasn't that much older though,” she argued, “only a little older.”

“I can promise you that nothing like your dreams is gonna happen in the next week alright? We can worry about it then. Now go to sleep.”

Natasha settled herself beside Tony while Bucky remained draped across the inventor's lap and Sam slept on undisturbed. Tony himself didn't both trying to fall asleep again because he had a feeling that Steve and Clint would be showing up soon. Wanda would probably also have a nightmare, but she wouldn't leave her bed unless accompanied by someone else so the inventor would have to get up and retrieve her at some point. He concluded that he was just going to need an extra cup of coffee or three in the morning.

Predictably, Steve had a nightmare and came looking for Bucky less than an hour later and Clint showed up not long after, carry Wanda. Lucky showed up with the miniaturized archer and Widow had been curled up in a sweater on Tony's dresser all night. Now that everyone was present, the inventor figured that he might be able to get some sleep before morning arrived. He was wrong.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think. I will probably be wrapping up this story within the next few chapters.
> 
> also, everyone should go check out DigDipper's sketch of the bed cuddles: http://digdipper09.tumblr.com/image/169340081097


	25. Chapter 25

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nightmares and visitors.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's an update and it only took like 4 months... sorry

Tony had just begun drifting off when Natasha's small hands fisted in his shirt. It was difficult to make out exactly what she was saying, but the bits that the inventor did understand essentially translated to “please stop.”

“It's okay,” the adult ran his fingers gently through her hair, “whatever it is, it's not real right now.”

Eventually she calmed down, her tears drying on her cheeks and Tony's shirt. Bucky also seemed to be having a nightmare of some sort, his young face wrinkled in pain, but no amount of gentle shaking could wake him. By the time the miniaturized Winter Soldier had moved on to a different and more peaceful dream, Clint was awake. “Is everything okay,” Tony asked tentatively, whispering so as not to wake the others.

The child shook his head, but didn't say anything. “How about you go back to sleep,” the inventor suggested, “otherwise you'll be tired in the morning.”

Clint shrugged. “Not tired.”

Not having the energy to argue, Tony gave in very easily. “Fine. You can stay awake but you've got to be quiet and not wake anyone else up.”

“Alright,” the mini archer nodded, “Sam's having a nightmare.”

Looking over to the aforementioned 12 year old, the inventor saw that the kid was indeed having a nightmare. Given how tightly he was gripping the covers, Tony guessed that Sam was dreaming about Riley again. “Didn't mean to...” he whispered over and over, “I'm so sorry.”

Sighing, the inventor reached over to pat the kid's head, unable to offer much more comfort given that he was pinned to the bed by the other children. Wanda woke up at that moment, looking around the room, terrified. “It's okay honey,” Tony tried to calm her, anticipating a temper tantrum or fit of some sort.

In response, the little girl just whimpered and climbed across the bed so that she could sit in Clint's lap. The boy seemed to be alright with the situation, so the inventor decided to try getting some sleep one more time. He hadn't even closed his eyes when Steve started crying in his sleep. “Can you take her to the living room,” Tony requested of Clint, “you guys can play quietly, or sleep.”

The mini archer left, leading the toddler by one hand, the other patting Lucky who promptly jumped off the bed to follow. The inventor pulled Steve into the space Clint had been occupying, adjusting the child so that his head rested on the pillow and Tony was free to move his arm. As he leaned back against the headboard, the inventor saw a small black shape make it's way across Bucky's stomach and over Natasha's arm. Next thing he knew, Widow was settling in the crook of Tony's neck, half on his shoulder and half on the pillow behind him.

 

* * *

 

When Tony woke up, there was only one child still in the bed as evidence by the shock of red hair disappearing underneath the blanket. Checking the time and deciding it had been long enough that the other kids had probably made a total mess of the living room, the inventor gently shook Natasha awake. “Good morning, котенок.”

“Good morning, дядька,” the girl replied quietly after a moment.

“Let's go see what's going on in the living room,” he suggested, “what do you want for breakfast this morning.”

“Whatever is easiest for you, дядька.”

“Alright,” Tony was a little concerned about Natasha's sullen attitude, but he took her hand and led her out of the room, “I just want to make sure it's something you'll eat.”

There was no reply, not that he was expecting one, and the two arrived downstairs to find the place a lot less messy than it probably should have been. “Clint? Wanda? Sam?” the inventor called, heading for the living room, “Steve? Bucky? Lucky? Widow?”

“Yes?” Steve popped into existence in front of the inventor.

“What have you all been doing the morning?” the whole atmosphere in the house felt off, but the inventor decided to act like everything was fine until he knew why it wasn't.

“Clint took Lucky for a walk,” Sam stepped out of the kitchen with Wanda on his hip, “Bucky and I are making breakfast, and Steve cleaned up the living room.”

“Well that was very nice of you,” Tony smiled, though it didn't reach his eyes nor did it relax the worried crinkle between his brows, “when did Clint leave? I don't want him wandering too far.”

As if on cue, the miniaturized archer entered through the front door, Lucky bounding in behind him. It seemed like the dog was the only one in a normal mood. “Hey Clint, thanks for taking Lucky out, that was very responsible.”

The seven year old simply nodded, curling the leash neatly and setting it on a side table. “Okay, how about everyone gets dressed and I'll finish breakfast,” Tony suggested, heading for the kitchen.

“I'm almost done,” Sam protested weakly, but the inventor took over and most of the children went to get dressed.

Natasha, of course, was the exception. She stayed in the kitchen, letting go of the inventor's hand only to fill Widow's food and water saucers which were essentially just shallow re-purposed bowls. By the time the other kids began returning, Tony had gotten food plated and onto the already-set table. Clint entered last, holding the inventor's phone. “This thing was talking,” he announced, handing it over and sitting down at the table, “she said to bring her to you.”

“Thank you, Clint,” the inventor took the device, “everyone sit down and eat breakfast.”

As the children did what they were told, except for Natasha who sat but refused to eat, Tony turned to his phone. “Fri? What's up?”

“James Rhodes is calling,” the AI replied, “I judged him significantly important.”

“He absolutely is,” Tony set the device on the counter, “bring him up.”

As a video-call projection opened up, the inventor greeted his friend with a smile, not noticing how the kids, Bucky especially, were watching with wide eyes.

 

* * *

 

Rhodey arrived at the same time as Pepper, and they entered the house with her key, not bothering to announce their presence. Lucky met them at the door and they found Clint, Wanda, Sam, Steve, and Bucky in the living room, but Tony and Natasha were absent. “Good morning kids,” Pepper greeted them, figuring that they would respond best to an at least vaguely familiar face.

Wanda peeked out from behind the couch, smiling shyly, and Steve came over to politely greet the CEO and introduce himself to Rhodey. Bucky stayed on the couch, watching the scene unfold and every so often glancing warily at Pepper. Sam looked up from his book when the two adults entered, but upon seeing Rhodey, he quickly returned to his reading. Clint also stayed where he was, perched on top of a low bookshelf, clearly unhappy that the 'supposedly-not-a-social-worker' from the day before had returned.

“This is James Rhodes,” Pepper introduced the man beside her, “he's a good friend of Tony's.”

The aforementioned man looked around uncomfortably, slowly connecting each child with their adult counterpart and doing his best to keep his feelings from showing. “Tones?” he called up the stairs.

“Platypus?” the inventor made his way down the stairs, Natasha balanced on his hip with her arms clinging to his shoulders, “and of course, the precious Pepper Potts. A pleasure as always, Madam.”

The CEO laughed lightly, but the display did not have a similar effect on the children. Tony greeted her and Rhodey with one-armed hugs, Natasha refused to be set down, and then took a step back to give his friend a once-over.”

“How're the braces treating you?” he asked.

Before Rhodey could respond, Sam made a choked noise and ran from the room. The heard his door slam shut and then there was complete silence. “Is he always like that?” the colonel asked.

“No, that's definitely a new development,” Tony bit his lip, “they've all been having nightmares lately, for some reason. We can talk about that later.”

“Have you all had breakfast?” Pepper asked, “what can I do to make your life easier?”

“All the kids have been fed except this little fireball,” the inventor jostled Natasha on his hip, “she seems to have gone on a hunger strike.”

“дядька hasn't eaten either,” the miniaturized super-spy spoke up.

“We can watch the kids while you two eat,” Pepper offered.

“That would be great, thanks Pep.”

“What about me?” Rhodey called after Tony who had headed for the kitchen.

“What about you?” the inventor teased over his shoulder.

 

* * *

 

Getting Natasha to stay in the living room while Tony went upstairs to speak with Sam, was a challenge to say the least. Though she'd eventually given in and allowed the adult to feed her some fruit and half a piece of toast, the redhead had insisted on sitting on his lap the entire time. “Look Tasha, I need you to stay here with the others for a few minutes that's all,” Tony argued with her, “Sam and I are gonna have a little talk, and then I'll be right back.”

Natasha didn't say anything, but she tightened her grip on his wrist. “I'll even leave Widow here with you,” the inventor used his free hand to pull the kitten out of his sweatshirt pocket, “if you aren't here, she might decide that she likes Rhodey better.”

For some reason, that seemed to do the trick, and Natasha let go, gently cradling the small feline while throwing distrustful glances at the colonel who was in turn making faces at Tony. Looking around the room one more time to make sure everything was reasonably okay for the moment, the inventor head upstairs, knocking gently when he reached Sam's door.

The sullen twelve year old answered immediately, allowing Tony entrance to the room. “You wanna tell me what's going on?” the inventor prompted, sitting down on the room's only chair.

“Nothing,” Sam refused to even look in the direction of the adult's face.

“Obviously something is going on with you,” Tony sighed, “does it have something to do with the nightmare you had? Is it strangers being in the house?”

The kid's expression changed slightly at the second question, providing the inventor with a clue. “It's about Rhodey?” he guessed.

Sam nodded, gesturing to his legs and then himself. “The braces scared you?”

“I did that,” the child whispered after a moment, “he fell out of the sky and it was my fault.”

Tony took a deep breath to steady himself internally. While he primarily blamed himself for what had happened to his friend, he couldn't help blaming the adult version of Sam a little bit. “Is that what you dreamed about last night?”

Nod.

“It wasn't your fault,” Tony forced the words from his mouth, “it was an accident. You didn't mean to hurt him.”

“But I did.”

“I don't know what to tell you,” the inventor said honestly, “it was a dream. If you come downstairs, Rhodey won't be mad at you, but if you want to stay up here and read, I'll allow it for the time being.”

Sam nodded again and Tony stood. “Call me if you need anything,” he said, heading back downstairs.

 

* * *

 

The scene in the living room was not ideal, but it definitely could have been worse. Wanda was sitting with Pepper looking at a picture book, Bucky was still sulking, and Steve was listening intently to something that Rhodey was saying. Clint was playing 'fetch' with Lucky and Natasha was nowhere to be found.

“I'm back,” Tony announced, hoping it would draw the little redhead out of her hiding place.

As expected, Natasha appeared from behind the couch with Widow in her arms. Immediately, she came over, gripping the inventor's hand tightly. Before anything more could happen, Lucky came crashing into Tony's legs. “Alright, no more throwing balls in the house, he decided, “if you want to continue, Clint, you can go to the back yard.”

Looking slightly frightened, the miniaturized archer did exactly that, picking up the ball and leading the puppy out the back door. “So what's up with Sam?” Rhodey asked, having concluded his conversation with Steve.

“He had a bad dream last night,” Tony replied vaguely, sitting down and allowing Natasha to climb into his lap, “they've all been having nightmares.”

“All month?” Pepper asked.

“No it's a recent development,” the inventor glanced at the three children present who might understand what was going on, “I think they're remembering stuff... if you get what I'm saying.”

“That's not good, Tones,” Rhodey shot a distrustful glance at Natasha, “maybe you should send them back to King T'Challa. This could get dangerous.”

“They're just kids,” Tony protested, his fingers absentmindedly braiding the mini spy's hair, “it's almost over anyway.”

“May I go upstairs?” Bucky interrupted.

When the adults all nodded, the nine year old took Steve by one hand, grabbing the younger's drawing supplies in the other, and headed for the stairs. “He's not wrong Tony...” Pepper started, “especially with that one,” she nodded to the receding form of the de-aged Winter Soldier.

“He's not usually this moody. He's actually been very helpful in the last few weeks.”

“Okay, but if he's getting memories back... his adult life was pretty violent...” Rhodey tried to put it gently.

“James isn't the only one with violent memories,” Pepper added, glancing meaningfully at Natasha.

The de-aged spy shot the CEO a sour glare, but before the situation could blow up, Widow began whining about something and both Natasha and Wanda ran out of the room after the kitten, leaving the adults alone. “It's just a little longer and then they're gone,” Tony sighed, running a hand through his hair.

“And then what?” Pepper asked softly.

“And then I go back to doing what I was doing before. First I'll get all of this,” the inventor gestured around the room, “donated to charity, then I'll head back to Malibu and make sure your R&D department is not ruining my projects.”

“They're not,” the CEO smacked him lightly.

“What about the interim?” Rhodey spoke up, “with this behavior and the nightmares... memories... whatever they are... this is dangerous Tones.”

“They're just kids,” Tony reminded the two, “and I'll be giving them back to King T'Challa before they turn into adults. They might not like you two, but they haven't been violent and they're fine with me...”

“If you say so...” Pepper wasn't happy with the situation, but she didn't have any feasible alternatives to which the inventor would agree.

“I do,” Tony instantly brightened up, “and while they're all busy, let me take a look at your braces, platypus.”

 

* * *

 

Later that day, with the help of Pepper and Rhodey, Tony was able to speak with each of the kids individually. He wasn't able to communicate with Wanda well enough for it to be worth anything, so the toddler spent her time in Pepper's care. Sam wasn't keen on talking anymore than he already had, but he was still not thrilled about being around Rhodey, so he spent his time reading in his room. Steve was content to just sit on the floor and draw, but Bucky continued to sulk until somehow, the colonel managed to engage him in conversation. The nine year old was still avoiding Pepper, but at least he was talking.

Natasha wasn't thrilled about being around either of the adults that weren't Tony, so while he was speaking with the other kids, she played with Widow in a corner of the living room, hissing when either Pepper or Rhodey got to close for comfort. She seemed confused whenever Clint was around and he appeared to feel similarly, so the little boy spent most of the day outside. His reactions to Rhodey and Pepper weren't any worse than his responses to other strange adults, so it worked out for Pepper to watch him, Wanda, and Lucky, play in the yard, while the CEO sat on the deck.

As Sam wasn't up for a conversation, and Natasha was refusing to leave the inventor's side, Tony decided to talk with the young spy first. Bringing her to his bedroom, he set her and Widow on a chair while he moved about the room, changing the sheets on the bed.

“Tasha,” he began, “you've been having nightmares...”

“Am I in trouble, дядька,” she asked, frowning, “are you angry?”

“I'm not upset with you. You're not in trouble. I would like you to tell me about your recent dreams though.”

“In my dream you were upset with me,” she replied as if trying to prove that he was lying, “we were at the airport and I did something wrong. I don't know what.”

“I see...”

“The lady said that the dreams are memories,” Natasha continued before Tony could say anything else, “that means grown-up-me did something wrong and you're mad at that me.”

“I'm not upset with you right now, котенок. Don't worry about that,” Tony tried to reassure her while at the same time, he pushed the memories of the betrayal to the back of his mind, “what about your other dreams.”

The little girl shrugged. “You were dying in one of them.”

“Oh?” the inventor chuckled bitterly, wondering which of his near-death experiences that redhead was remembering.

“You had a light in your chest,” Natasha tapped the corresponding location on her own body, “it was really pretty but it was making you sick.”

“I see,” Tony said for the second time, “you don't need to worry about that either, “I had the light removed so it can't hurt me anymore.”

“Is that why there are all the lines?”

“Yeah, most of them anyway...” the inventor nodded, trying not to get lost in his own memories.

The rest of the conversation with Natasha went relatively well, though convincing her to stay downstairs while Tony spoke with Bucky was an entirely different struggle.

 

* * *

 

Bucky was very quiet as he followed Tony up the stairs so they could sit together on the now-made bed. “Bucky,” the inventor bit his lip, “I want to talk about the nightmares you've been having lately.”

“I'm sorry for disturbing you.”

“That's not what I'm worried about, kiddo. I'd like to know what you've been dreaming about.”

“Oh,” instantly Bucky looked more distressed.

“Whatever it is, I promise that I won't be upset with you, alright?”

“I hurt people... a lot of people...” the boy began to cry.

“Oh Bucky,” Tony pulled the kid into a hug, “I'm sorry you've been dreaming that sort of thing. If I could make it stop, I would.”

“I'm gonna be a bad person when I grow up,” Bucky whimpered, burying his face in the inventor's shoulder.

“No, buddy, I promise you'll grow up into a good person. You didn't want to do any of those bad things, it's not your fault,” Tony tried to believe his own words but was only partially successful.

Bucky seemed to find some comfort in what the inventor had said and the adult's gentle hug. It took several minutes, but eventually he calmed down and informed Tony that he didn't want to talk about it anymore. As such the inventor never found out why Bucky was avoiding Pepper.

 

* * *

 

The conversation with Clint was reasonably easy from Tony's perspective. It seemed like most of what the archer was remembering in his dreams was related to hardships and trauma occurring before the agent met the inventor. For the child, the worst parts were memories of sniping people because there was no context, just a trigger, blood, and a dead body.

Tony was glad that he didn't have to deal with Clint's adult memories of himself, and it helped him sympathize and comfort the kid. Steve was an entirely different story. Though the skinny blonde started off the conversation completely composed, he was crying by the time they made it halfway through the first dream.

Though, like Bucky, Steve had plenty of traumatic memories to be turned into nightmares, it just so happened that the first one brought up was Siberia. Suffice it to say, they both cried during that conversation.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm trying to wrap up, but I don't know if there will be 1, 2, or 3 more chapters.
> 
> Let me know what you think.


	26. Chapter 26

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Interesting conversations.

Dinner went reasonably well, all things considered. There were six children and three adults, so even with Wanda in a highchair and Natasha taking up residence on Tony's lap, the table was crowded to say the least. Sam tried to skip the meal altogether, and it took a private conversation with Rhodey to get the kid downstairs. Bucky insisted upon sitting as far away as possible from Pepper and Clint wasn't keen on sitting near either of the redheads.

The food was good, at least to Tony's taste, partly because Pepper had gotten take out from a quality restaurant and partly because he didn't have to cook himself. All the kids were more subdued than usual, but there was still quite the mess to clean up afterwards. Rhodey had to leave early to prepare for a lecture he was giving the next day, so Pepper did the cleaning of the kitchen while Tony cleaned the kids.

Once everyone was washed and most of them were in pajamas, the kids were split into two groups, Clint, Steve, and Wanda with Pepper reading a story, Bucky and Natasha with Tony. Sam was content to read alone in his room. Giving the miniaturized spy a ball of yarn with which to tease Widow, the inventor took the de-aged super-solider to the side. “What's going on?” he asked, “I can tell that you're avoiding Pepper. Did she say something?”

“Ms. Potts doesn't like me very much,” Bucky refused to make eye contact.

“Why do you say that?”

“She's a special person to you,” the kid replied, using a tone that seemed more appropriate for reading a geometry proof, “she loves you very much. That means she doesn't like people who hurt you. Adult-me hurt you. Therefore, Ms. Potts doesn't like me.”

“I see your logic,” Tony sighed, trying to come up with an answer to give that wasn't completely false, “but like me, Pepper knows that you have no control over the things that adult-you did.”

“She thinks I'm dangerous,” Bucky whispered, “she's right.”

“Well, dangerous means that you have the ability to cause harm. That's different than having the intention or desire to hurt others. Even the most dangerous person in the world can usually make the choice not to cause harm. Does that make sense?”

“I guess.... but what about my dreams?”

“What about them?”

“They're memories, right?” the kid blinked rapidly, probably trying to hold in tears, “adult-me is dangerous and did cause harm, that means I'm a bad person.”

“Not necessarily,” the inventor struggled for the right words and a good example, “have you heard the expression, 'even good people do bad things and bad people do can good things?'”

“No...”

“Honestly, I'm not even sure if it's a real expression or something I just made up,” Tony swallowed down his own insecurities for the moment, “take me as an example.”

“But that doesn't work,” Bucky's brow furrowed, “you're a good person. You're taking care of all of us, even though adult-us hurt you.”

The inventor resisted the urge to argue with the child, because for his example to work, he did have to pretend to believe he was a good person. “Right. But I've done bad things too.”

“Like what?”

“I used to build weapons for the government. Weapons that really hurt people.”

The kid frowned. “But that was to protect America, right? You only hurt the bad guys.”

“I wish it was that simple, buddy. After I made the weapons and sold them, somehow the bad guys got ahold of them and used my creations to hurt good, innocent people.”

Bucky reached over to wipe the tears that Tony didn't realize were running down his cheeks. “It wasn't your fault,” the nine year old said confidently, “you didn't mean to hurt innocent people, right? The bad guys did that.”

Tony grabbed a tissue and blew his nose before responding. “It was more complex than that, but the point is, when I realized that my weapons were being used by the bad guys and hurting innocents, I decided to stop making weapons. Once I knew what was happening, I made the choice to protect people instead of hurting them.”

“Okay...”

“So the memories you're dreaming about... that happened when you didn't know you were doing something bad. Later, once you figure out what's going on, then you can make a choice. Your adult self just hasn't been given the chance to make that choice yet.”

Bucky didn't reply, but he allowed Tony to hug him and sobbed into the inventor's shirt. At some point, Natasha came over and crouched on the back of the couch so she could pat both of their heads.

 

* * *

 

Trying to read a story to Clint, Wanda, and Steve at the same time was next to impossible for Pepper. The toddler just wanted to look at the pictures and kept trying to flip the page before the adult was done reading the text. Steve wanted to hear the whole story, but he also wanted to ask question every few sentences, seeing more meaning in the words than the author probably intended. Clint also interrupted regularly, but he seemed to think the younger kid was asking all the wrong questions.

Eventually, the CEO gave up, handing the book to Wanda so the little girl could look at the pictures which she was content to do on her own. Pepper then sent Steve towards the drawing supplies and was about to try distracting Clint somehow when the miniaturized archer addressed her. “What kind of special friend are you?” he asked.

“I'm sorry?”

“You said that you're Tony's special friend and not a social worker. I don't believe you.”

“If you think I'm a social worker,” Pepper challenged, “why aren't you on your best behavior?”

“I know what my file says,” Clint responded calmly.

“Fair enough,” the CEO nodded, “what would convince you that I'm not a social worker? I don't really care what you think, but Tony seems to, so I'll put in some amount of effort.”

The kid frowned at her, probably not quite understanding the words, but still grasping the sentiment. “What kind of special friend are you?” he repeated.

“I don't understand the question. Please rephrase.”

“There's lots of different kinds of special friends,” Clint explained as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, counting on his fingers as he continued, “girlfriend, fling, side-bitch, whore-”

“Watch your language,” Pepper exclaimed, mildly horrified that such a young child had been exposed to that kind of vocabulary.

“There's also boy-toy, but girls can't be that,” the seven year old continued calmly.

“Girlfriend would be the closest,” the CEO bit her lip, “but that's still not quite right. Before anything else, Tony and I are close friends, family even. We worked together for a long time, and still do to an extent.”

“Nu-uh,” Clint argued, “if you were family, then you'd be our foster-mom. But you only showed up yesterday.”

“Sometimes family can't be together all the time. My job keeps me very busy and I have to travel a lot, which means Tony and I don't get to see each other as much as we'd like. What's important is that I love him and care for him very much.”

“If you say so...”

“Why are you so insistent about me being a social worker anyway?”

“You don't like us,” Clint muttered, staring at his hands, “you want us to go away and live with other foster parents that aren't Tony.”

“And why do you think that's the case?”

“It just is,” the boy shrugged.

“Alright, say that's all true, except the part about me being a social worker,” Pepper tilted her head to one side in thought, “don't you think I'd have a reason?”

“I guess so,” Clint admitted, still not looking up from his lap, “social workers don't like me because I'm a problem-child and none of the foster parents wanna keep me for very long... am I a problem-grownup too?”

The CEO might have laughed at the terminology if the sentiment wasn't so depressing. She didn't like Clint as an adult and had plenty of reasons to be angry with him, but it was pretty clear he'd had a messed up childhood. “I suppose that's one way to put it...”

“So you know what adult-me did?” the boy looked up at her, almost eagerly, “the computer with the funny accent won't tell me.”

“I don't know everything,” Pepper nodded, her eyes wandering over to Steve before returning to the boy beside her, “but adult-Clint was pretty mean to Tony and I know that you can't remember any of that stuff, but I'm having a hard time forgetting it.”

“Then why is Tony so nice to us? He could do whatever he wanted cause we're kids now, so why isn't he mean back?”

“Because that's not the person he is,” the CEO smiled sadly, gazing at a spot about Clint's head, “Tony isn't the type of person to get revenge when it isn't absolutely necessary.”

The kid frowned, clearly not understanding. “I do remember some stuff,” he said slowly, “but it's confusing.”

“Oh?”

“I think I'm gonna grow up to be a bad guy,” Cling whispered, looking up at the adult with wide eyes, “the dreams are remembering stuff, right? In my dreams I put red dots on people and then there was blood, lot's of it.”

Pepper didn't manage to hold in her gasp, but she quickly rearranged her horrified expression into a neutral one. “Try not to think about it,” she suggested, “it was just a bad dream. Everyone has nightmares sometimes.”

“But the dreams are memories,” the boy murmured to himself and the CEO stayed silent; she had no idea what to say anymore.

 

The next day, Pepper had to return to her job and Rhodey had to give a talk at the Hanscom Air-force Base, so Tony was alone with the kids. After another night full of memories, everyone was exhausted and rather subdued. Even Lucky seemed to understand that it wasn't the right time for playful yipping.

Predictably, Sam spent most of the day in his room, only coming downstairs when Tony insisted he eat, and Natasha spent the entire morning in physical contact with the inventor, only letting go when she had to use the bathroom. Bucky and Steve stayed in the living room primarily, the younger drawing while the older brooded, occasionally making a paper airplane but never flying it.

Clint spent the morning outside with Lucky and after lunch he was content to play with legos on the floor, giving Natasha the stink eye if she or Widow strayed to close to his structures. After convincing Tony to french braid her hair, the young red head moved into the dining room, presumably to play with the cat, and the house was somewhat peaceful. Of course with a toddler around, nothing was ever completely peaceful, but during her fairly brief nap, they maintained an incredible facsimile.

 

* * *

 

Sometime in the mid-afternoon, Clint approached Tony. “We're gonna turn back into grownups soon, right?”

“Mmn,” Tony hummed noncommittally.

“I heard the lady who wasn't a social worker talking. She said that being kids would only last a month. I couldn't figure out how to count the days right, but it's been a while...

“Yeah, I'm gonna be taking you guys back to Wakanda in a few days,” the inventor replied, too exhausted to sugarcoat.

“Are you gonna leave us there?”

Tony struggled for the right answer. The truth was that yes, he was absolutely going to drop off the kids and hightail it off the continent, but Clint would not be receptive to such a response. “I'm not gonna leave you there,” he attempted a joke, “you all are gonna kick me out.”

“Can I write a letter to adult-Clint?” the boy asked, seemingly changing the subject, “will you give it to him... me... please?”

“If you want,” the inventor frowned, “do you know how to write?”

“Kinda,” Clint shrugged, pouting before his face suddenly lit up, “can your talking computer help me?”

“That's actually a pretty smart idea, bud,” Tony patted the boy's shoulder, “I'm sure FRIDAY could help you.”

“No one's ever called me smart before,” the seven year old practically glowed under the praise, immediately become shy and hiding behind the couch.

The inventor decided it really wasn't a good idea to point out that he'd called the idea smart, not the actual child. There was no need to say it, but he still thought it. “You can go to my office and talk to FRIDAY whenever you'd like,” Tony told Clint, turning to give Wanda whatever it was she was demanding via her fist to his thigh.

As it turned out, Wanda just wanted attention, but for once, Clint wasn't content to be ignored. “I'm gonna tell adult-me not to be so mean to you,” the boy informed Tony, who was trying keep the toddler from ripping out the pages of a picture book.

“Sounds great,” the inventor replied, not really listening, “you know where my office is.”

“What else do you think I should write?” Clint asked, somehow vaulting over the back of the couch to sit beside the adult.

“Whatever you want, kid,” Tony had just managed to stash the book out of Wanda's reach when Steve came running over in tears.

“Buck and Tasha are fighting,” the five year old wiped his nose on his sleeve and grabbed the inventor's hand to drag him into the next room.

“Clint, watch Wanda,” the adult instructed as he allowed himself to be pulled away, “don't let her tear up the books.”

 

* * *

 

Steve succeeded in guiding Tony into the dining room, but rather than seeing Bucky and Natasha wrestling or holding makeshift weapons, the inventor was met with the sight of the two children sitting cross-legged and peaceful on the floor. While the blonde six year old continued to whimper and use his sleeve as a handkerchief, the adult turned to the other two kids present. “What's going on here?” he asked, “Steve said you were fighting.”

Bucky and Natasha looked at each other, seeming to communicate silently for a moment. Then the older looked up. “Nothing happened,” he said simply.

“Right... then why is your little blonde shadow in tears?”

Though he didn't reply, Bucky moved over to where Steve was standing and picked the younger up, hugging him tightly. “I'm sorry for scaring you, Stevie,” he apologized, “I won't do it again.”

Beyond confused, Tony sighed for what felt like the thousandth time that day and decided that it wasn't worth trying to figure out what the 'fight' had been over. He had less than 48 hours before he could load the kids onto a plane and drop them off in Wakanda. Though he told himself he was glad that they'd be gone, a voice in the back of his head reminded him how he was going to miss the cuteness and the morning cuddles and all the 'fathering.'

He didn't have the time to examine his conflicting feelings, not that he would have done so anyway, because there was a crash from the living-room and they all heard Wanda begin to wail.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2 chapters left


End file.
